Puzzle Pieces
by Madin456
Summary: I bumped into him during the Hunter Exam, where we jumped down a hole together. If that wasn't considered a start of a new relationship, then I really didn't know what was. (I was the corner piece of a puzzle and he seemed to click into place beside me.) — KilluaxOC. Does NOT follow the canon storyline.
1. Hiyori

**A/N: **Yes, I'm uploading this on July 7th. Yes, it's Killua's birthday. Yes, this was all planned.

Just want to clarify something: the spelling of character names. Was it just me or were the anime and manga names really confusing since they were different? I'm going to stick with the anime version, so Zoldyck instead of Zoaldyeck, Kite instead of Kaito, etc. Because I watched the anime first. Yeah.

Also, huge thanks to my beta Reeyachan for reading over this chapter and future chapters to come. She has a HXH story too, so check that out!

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Hunter X Hunter**_**.**

Chapter 1: Hiyori

"_Humans are social creatures," my teacher once told me. "You can try to cut your ties with everyone else, but no matter how cold and mean you are to others, you will always get an aching feeling in your heart. The urge to interact is just too great for anyone to bare."_

If a family could be defined as a group of people who cared about you and would be by your side supporting you with unconditional love no matter the circumstances as well as helping you through the hard times and giving you a shoulder to lean on when you were sad, then I think it was safe to say that I had no family.

Growing up for me was hard, especially with an older sibling. In the beginning, I had been prepared to be mocked and insulted by other kids, you know, the normal bully and victim routine. But I didn't expect to watch both my parents praise my brother—as if _they_ were the ones harassing me—and talk about how when I grew up, I should learn to be exactly like him. It was so obvious that they favoured him over me, but it felt worse when they didn't even bother trying to hide it.

He was the smarter one—the _better_ one—and he always exceeded me in everything he did; and yet, he didn't take this opportunity to brag or even bully me. He helped me up when I was down. He dragged me along so I could keep up. He never once stabbed me in the back.

Great. So I had someone who I could talk and help me with whatever problems I was having. Now, what was wrong with that? What was wrong with an older brother helping his sister? Absolutely and utterly nothing—if only he didn't _see me through pitied eyes._

To him, he was being nice; he was acting like how a caring, protective older brother should be. And I wasn't complaining because, surely, that had to be better than a brother who discriminated you along with his parents, right?

However, I don't think he realized that what he was doing was actually making the situation worse. Mother and father took this as a chance and saw their son as an even better person. And at some point in my life, I was forced to stand on the sidelines and observe my parents as they slowly got tired and fed up with me and I could only ask: at what point did they stop caring?

_Had they ever cared at all?_

* * *

"_Waah! Waah!"_

That was me, at the age of one. I was begging my brother to play with the new toy he had gotten just a few days ago. It was one of those clapping monkey figures that held symbols in its hands and would make sounds when you wind it up. Every time he spun the dial, the monkey would march towards him, a smile never wavering on his face, and my brother's own face would light up with joy and he would laugh for minutes and minutes non-stop.

I tried my best to lean over and reach for the toy, because I wanted to play with it too, but he moved it further away and eventually, I toppled over on the floor, feeling the tears well up in my eyes and sniffing to hold them back. It was like this every time: my parents would buy him a new toy for smashing all the plates off the dinner table while I had to watch him get cooed and fussed over, not being able to get angry or jealous because I knew that I wouldn't get the same treatment no matter what I did.

And just like all the times before, he gave me a look that said, _Why should I let you play with this? Mom and dad gave it to _me.

* * *

"_Keep going, Hiroki! You can do it!"_

That was me, at one-and-a-half years old, watching as my parents—mother in front of me and father behind me—praised my brother, clapping and cheering as he took his first steps. At first, he stood up awkwardly, wobbling and holding onto the couch desperately, but as time passed, he eventually mastered the art of walking and was running everywhere around the house, experimenting with his legs and feet, seeing how fast they could carry him.

I remembered how father gave him a light push on the first day to help him start on his journey across the living room to where my mother was, with her arms open, smiling widely. I remembered how, when he finally did make it to the destination, he collapsed into mother's arms as she cuddled and kissed him until he fell asleep, completely exhausted from the exercise.

And I couldn't help but think why they hadn't done the same to me, when I had learned to walk a few days later.

* * *

"_Failure."_

That was me, at age two, speaking my first word, my voice pronouncing the harsh word innocently. I heard this word from every inch—every centimetre—of the house; and even my little two-year-old brain could understand that it was addressed to me every single time. Crawling or walking up the stairs, I would hear father mutter it under his breath when he passed by me, while mother would simply ignore me and pretend I didn't even exist. Although I didn't know what it meant exactly, I could tell by his tone of voice that they were mad, angry, disappointed... at me. Often, I would wonder what I had done for them to call me this.

When they heard me say it one afternoon, mother and father exchanged looks over the dinner table and froze in mid-action of feeding Hiroki his pudding snack. First, it started out as snickering, but eventually, they changed to full-on laughing, mother covering her mouth in attempt to stop the giggles from spilling out and father jerking so violently that he knocked over the food and the pudding splattered onto my brother's face.

The house echoed with cries of laughter from my parents and loud, wailing sobs from Hiroki.

It was the first time mother and father ever laughed because of me, and even though I didn't really know what I had said, I felt a sense of pride.

* * *

"_Here," Father's gruff voice interrupted the sound of the TV and Hiroki and I both momentarily turned our attention away from the screen to see him handing me a box. "A puzzle for you to do while your brother and I leave the house for a while."_

That was me, at age three, staring in wonder at what the box that was being offered to me could contain. Hiroki was peering over my shoulder as I hesitantly reached out to grab the item, both of us staring at it like it was some kind of alien material. Father had never given me anything other than things such as food and clothing, so this just might as well be treated as an alienated object.

As I continued to examine the box, I noticed that at some point, Hiroki had been pulled away and he left with our father to go somewhere that I will never know. When he came back, I was sure that he would talk about all the cool things he saw and got to do, but I knew that all the descriptions, no matter how detailed, still wouldn't be the same as experiencing them for myself.

Now, more so than this mysterious box, I couldn't help but wonder where they went that was so confidential that I couldn't even know about.

* * *

_Twin._

That was me, at age four, looking up a new word I had discovered in a simple picture book.

"_A pair; __two __people or __things__ closely related to or closely resembling each other."_

I looked over at my brother Hiroki, who was also reading a book of his own. This was the first time I had closely examined him. We had the same brown hair, the same dark brown eyes, and even the same facial features—if we were the same gender, we would've looked identical. It was almost as if we were a bottle of shampoo; two-in-one. Parts of a whole.

Realization dawned on me and I continued reading the book, even more entranced that I was before. It was then that I concluded: I was a _twin_.

* * *

"_You're such a disappointing, weak, unpleasant, stupid..._ girl!_"_

That was me, at age six, trying desperately not to let my mother's words get to me. She was mad over the fact that I had accidently pushed Hiroki over, causing him to get a big bruise on his leg. He was crying in pain as father placed a wet cloth over the wound so that it wouldn't get infected and mother was glaring at me with eyes that contained so much hatred that I feared my soul would crumple apart.

Muttering a sorry for the billionth time, I scurried away, running to my room and burying my head in the pillow to hide my tears. It was the first time that I had hurt my brother that much and I was scared that he would hate me for the rest of his life. And even though, later, he had told me that it was no big deal, he knew it was an accident, he could still walk perfectly fine, I couldn't help but wonder: maybe this wouldn't have happened if I were a boy... after all, just look at Hiroki; he _never_ made mistakes. Maybe mother and father would've loved me a little more if I had been a boy.

So... why hadn't I been born a boy?

* * *

"_Hurry up! We have to go here and—ooh! Let me show you that; you'll love it!"_

That was me, at age seven, following Hiroki aimlessly around our small town as he pointed at literally everything we passed. It was the first time I've ever left my backyard and father said that from now on, I was only allowed to go outside to run errands for him. Today, though, Hiroki snuck out with me when he noticed me sitting at the window for hours, looking outside and wondering what secrets the world I never stepped into held.

Holding my hand the entire time, he showed me all the shops, the parks, the bus stops, and we even got to eat at a restaurant! There was music, people actually came up to you and brought you the food, which was a nice change from mother's strict rules of feeding yourself, and get this: the waiters even sang happy birthday for the kid who sat in front of us. No one's ever sung me happy birthday except for my brother.

On the way back, Hiroki demonstrated his new-found ability to climb trees. I watched in both awe and envy as he courageously took one step after another until he was at the very peak several feet over the ground, grinning widely and waving down at me. This was my older brother, I realized, who was always a step above me—both figuratively and literally.

When we got back home, father asked where we were, and from one look in his eyes, I could tell that he knew what we've been up to. And I'll never forget what Hiroki did that day—he took the blame all on himself.

* * *

"_That bracelet... every time you look at it, it'll remind you of how you _killed_ me."_

That was me, at the age of ten, staring in shock as mother spoke her last words to me with a pool of blood surrounding her body. I remembered shaking so hard that I thought I would explode, and I stood there, frozen, for a few minutes before I let out an ear-piercing scream that woke up the whole house.

I could've done something, I realized all too late. I could've _saved_ her.

But I had been too scared. The aura the assassin let out was too menacing and the minute I stepped into the room, just in time to witness mother's heart being pulled out of her body, I dropped onto my knees. In less than a second, she had died and I was completely and utterly useless.

When father finally arrived after what seemed like eternity, I was shoved aside as he tried to do all sorts of things to save her, but it was no good; she was already gone.

My wrist was glowing with the curse that mother implanted onto me. I tried pulling, biting, cutting, and I even got father to attempt ripping it off with _Nen_, but nothing worked.

The bracelet was here to stay—forever.

* * *

"_You can't bring back the dead, not matter how hard you try."_

That was me, learning an important lesson. Mother was gone and all this time, father had taken out his anger on me, saying that everything was my fault, that if I had done something _sooner_, something _better_, something _helpful_, all of this could've been prevented. Or, at least, begged until the assassin killed me instead of her, because I was a nothing while she was half of father's entire life—the other half being Hiroki.

The worst part was... I think I was starting to believe everything father said.

* * *

"_Mom... mom—come back!"_

That was me, crying over my mother's death at her funeral. But a part of me knew that I wasn't actually sad that she died; I was just scared of what father would do to me afterwards. After all, her death meant one less person to verbally abuse me with.

And I realized that everything they said had been right—I was a selfish jerk.

A failure.

* * *

"_Father, _please!_ Just listen to me!"_

That was me, a few days after mother's death, practically _begging_ my dad to even acknowledge me. After all that happened a few nights before, father wouldn't even look at me properly anymore—it was as if I had become an alien who was only allowed to stay in the house because it was technically illegal to just throw me away.

Since then, father's eyes had been clouded, but the coldness in them didn't go away; instead, they intensified. I'll never forget the look of hatred he sent my way when I came down the stairs for breakfast in the morning; and I'll never forget what he said to me a few days later, when everything finally got to him and he snapped:

"_Just—just shut up! You're such a failure; you couldn't even save your own mother!"_

And that was the last time I ever talked.

* * *

_Selectively mute._

That was me, a day after I have taken the vow of silence. The two words rang through my head repetitively. When I was younger, I had thought that being a selective mute was a stupid idea because, well, if you had a voice, then why not use it?

But now I understood all too well.

It was easier to do than I had expected.

* * *

"_Hiroki and... child." Father looked at me with narrowed eyes. "Come with me. It's time for you to learn _Nen_."_

That was me, a few weeks after mother's incident, trying not to flinch at the name he now called me. After that night—the night of mother's death—father lost the little respect he had for me and I was being treated like trash. I saw Hiroki glance my way, eyes filled with pity, as he grabbed my hand, squeezing it slightly to reassure me, and dragged me along, forcing me to follow him and father to the backyard.

Wordlessly, I walked behind my brother, almost like a shadow. I was a no-one now; nothing but extra baggage to carry around. Hiroki was the only one who really understood; he _had_ to understand. We were siblings, after all—_twins. _

He was the only one I could turn to; I had no one else.

* * *

"_Nice to meet you."_

That was me, a few minutes later, being introduced to a _Nen_ teacher that father had hired. Before father left us alone, he turned to me and said that if I were to do well in something in life, it had to be _Nen_ so that I could prevent what happened on That Night. The only response I had given him was looking away, ashamed.

Weeks later, both Hiroki and I had mastered the basics of _Nen_ and we were ready to find out which category our _Nen_ belonged to. Walking up to the glass of water, I gently placed my hands around it and performed _Ren_.

Moss sprouted from the bottom of the glass.

* * *

_Zoldyck._

That was me, a few months later, musing over the new name that had suddenly been thrown at me not so long ago. They were a family of assassins who took on missions to kill anyone without a second thought if they were paid the right amount of money, father had explained with absolute hatred in his eyes.

"_They were the ones who killed your mother."_

After hearing that, I felt Hiroki stiffen beside me and when I turned to look at him, I saw that his teeth were gritted tightly, hands curled into lethal fists shaking uncontrollably, and his eyes had the same clouded look as father's. At the mention of mother's killer, he had turned from my loving twin brother to a monster who I no longer knew what he was capable of doing.

And right there, I promised myself that I would ever let him come across a Zoldyck.

* * *

"_You two will be attending the Hunter Exam."_

That was me, at age eleven, staring at my father in shock. I had lived with one simple rule my whole life: listen to whatever father said and if I hadn't been given permission to do something, I didn't do it. That being said, the first thing he had told me was to never take even a step outside our front door unless it was to run errands or buy groceries.

Now, let me tell you: I was not a rule breaker.

Although this new request wasn't a violation of the first rule, it shattered the second one into a millions pieces and completely flushed it down the toilet.

* * *

_Father stared at me, eyes narrowed. "You'll never pass the Exam."_

That was me, now, at age twelve, ready to completely give up.

And the answer to the question from before? _Had they ever cared?_

It was quite obvious, actually: no. Not from the moment I was born, not while I was growing up, and certainly not now. And even if I begged, cried, threw tantrums like a five-year-old, the cold, hard truth was that they _never will_.

* * *

**A/N: **I know this is a prologue and everything and it's supposed to be short, but future chapters will also be about this length. I just have difficulty writing long chapters, okay? Shut up. I'm working on it.

So hints about Hiyori's _Nen_. Just reminding you guys that any impurities that appear—in this case, the moss—means that the user is a Conjurer. More hints to come in the next few chapters.

Reviews are very much appreciated. :D

**NEXT CHAPTER:** In which a bet is originated, Hiyori and Hiroki enter a fancy building, and Killua is somewhat introduced.

~Madin456.


	2. Weirdo

**A/N: **Guysss, thank you so much for favouriting, following, and most of all, reviewing! I know that there are a _lot_ of KilluaxOC stories out there, so thanks for giving this a chance. :D

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Hunter X Hunter.**_

Chapter 2: Weirdo

"Are you up for a challenge?"

Tearing my eyes away from the flashy buttons of the elevator that I have taken a sudden interest in for the past few minutes, I turned to face my brother with an eyebrow raised and curiosity dancing in my orbs. Shaking off the hood of my red sweater that was clearly one size too big for me, I let my light brown hair flow out as I waited for him to elaborate, an eyebrow raised in undeniable curiosity.

"I was thinking, since father said people who take the Hunter Exam usually don't know _Nen_, we could refrain from using our _Nen_. We'll stick to hand-to-hand combat and whatever weapons we happen to pick up and you can only use your _Nen_ for communication. Just to make things a little more interesting," he explained, smirking. "What do you think?"

Now _that_ piqued my interest. It wasn't everyday that I got challenged and Hiroki and I were pretty evenly matched, so I _was_ kind of curious to see who the victor would be. But... not using _Nen_ meant that there was more of a possibility we could die. For real.

In the end, I couldn't help but return my brother's grin and nod excitedly. Because what was a bet without a danger aspect to it? There was no way was I going to lose.

And so it was settled.

Both of us wouldn't use _Nen_ at all during the length of the exam, even if we were about to die. Our egos were too big for us to run away from the challenge; our pride too strong for us to let the other witness our failure. And the prize? Because there had to be some kind of motivation behind all of this. And let me tell you, it was the most satisfying thing out there: bragging rights.

That's right: the two of us were going to put our lives in danger for a chance to gloat about our victory. It sounded absurd, it was undeniably immature of us, it was kind of crazy—but it would be fun and that was all I could really ask for.

The _ding_ of the elevator indicated that we had arrived at the designated place. Sucking in a deep breath, I dusted my blue shorts and picked up my backpack, swinging it across my shoulder and positioned it comfortably on my back, but not before taking out the numbered pin that we had been given earlier and sticking it on the outside of my sweater. It was official: I was now a soon-to-be hunter.

The doors opened and the two of us stepped out together, taking the first step in unison. The exam building was exactly how you'd imagine an old, ancient building with some fancy decorations stuck onto it like it was done by architectures who couldn't quite make up their minds on how they wanted everything to look—completely weird, hard to take in, and more than a little out-of-place.

But above all that, this place was a freaking _castle_.

All the doors and windows had this cool, curved, spiral design that looped around them like everything was a fancy picture frame. To our right, there was a set of spiral stairs that led you up glamorously to the next floor, as if only celebrities were allowed to walk there. The building itself gave off the vibe that it was so strong, yet so fragile at the same time.

Glancing around the room we were currently in, I noticed that it was packed with other examinees and, in a matter of seconds, Hiroki and I successfully determined that, just like father said, none of these people knew how to use _Nen_ in the slightest. A smirk made its way across my face and a boast of confidence flooded through me. They should just hand over the hunter licence and tell everyone to leave because this might as well be a piece of—

Hiroki and I both froze at the same time and exchanged looks.

—_Whoa. _

Near the back of the room stood a petite girl with long, pink hair tied back into two messy pigtails. She jumped onto a large cardboard box, and boy, did she give out a strong aura. She dressed so casually—shorts, a T-shirt, and no shoes for some reason—that I would've never guessed that she was this strong if we hadn't done a check on everyone here. This girl was a classic example of "don't judge people by their appearance."

The girl cleared her voice. "Alright guys!" When no one paid any attention to her, she tried again, this time speaking louder. "Everyone!" She frowned and clenched her hands into fists when she realized that she had been ignored yet again. She stomped her feet on the box, causing the ground to shake. "WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP AND LISTEN?!"

It worked. The chatter in the room halted. Eyes shifted in her direction. But everyone was looking at her in frustration and in a matter seconds, the crowd erupted with cries anger.

"Shut up, kid!"

"Don't boss us around!"

"Who the hell are you, Shorty?"

It was evident that the last comment ticked her off. (Though I had to admit, she _was_ kind of short... especially if she had to stand on a cardboard box to be on level with everyone else.) She glared at the person who spoke and jumped off the box she had been standing on, landing a direct kick on his stomach with her foot. The man was thrown back all the way to the wall and everyone backed away, immediately shutting their mouths when they saw her strength.

"Who are you calling short? My name is Gemmei Tateno, not Shorty!"

The man narrowed his eyes at her—or tried to—but it wasn't very effective since he started coughing up blood after and groaned from the pain. I could tell that he wanted to talk back, but he restrained himself and made the right choice, knowing that he was in no condition to say anything unless he wanted to get beat up again.

However, he slowly started to gather his strength and got up to charge at her—a rather stupid decision on his part—but with lightning speed, Gemmei was in front of him with her foot at his chest. His eyes widened in surprise and his legs gave out, resulting in him stumbling back and landing on his bottom. Gemmei kept her foot there until he gave up and admitted defeat after cursing colourfully.

Such a strong kick could only be done with the help of _Nen_.

But to do something like that upon meeting someone for the first time had to mean that she was completely and utterly nuts. Crazy. Whacko.

Beside me, I heard my brother let out a soft whistle, clearly impressed. "I really hope we don't have someone like her as our examiner..." Hiroki leaned over and whispered to me, running a hand though his shaggy brown hair. I nodded courtly back in response.

Everyone's attention turned back to Gemmei as she walked back to the front of the crowd and faced us once again, wiping the dust off her pants as if she had just touched something filthy. Sighing, she spoke again and this time, no one dared to interrupt her.

"For those of you who didn't know," she jerked her chin up and placed her hands on her hips, looking prideful, "I'm your examiner for the first phase of the Hunter Exam."

Silence filled the room. It took a few minutes for us to let all that sink in. Everyone was surprised, but no one accused her of lying in fear of what would become of them if they even _breathed_ wrongly.

Hiroki jinxed it. He totally jinxed it.

I sighed and stuffed my hands into my pockets. _We have a crazy, hot-headed examiner who didn't even hesitate to beat up a stranger for the first phase... Great. _

She continued, "For your first test, you are to escape this building."

Murmurs erupted throughout the crowd with people asking, _Isn't that too easy?_ Hiroki glanced at me, confusion in his eyes as well. I shrugged and placed a finger to my lips just as he was about to voice his opinion, motioning for him to be quite as Gemmei went on explaining in further detail.

"The elevator that you took to get up here will be shut down. You're allowed to use any method you want as long as you get out. The only thing you will be given is a map of the building and you only have five hours; if you take longer than five hours, you'll automatically be eliminated and, well, come back next year." When she was done handing out the maps to everyone, she got on the elevator. Just as the doors closed, she said, "I'll be waiting for you at the bottom. Good luck, everyone!"

Everyone stood there puzzled for a while before the crowd slowly dispersed. I blinked. Wait, what? The exam had started already? I thought that we'd have time to just sit down and relax, you know, drink some tea and maybe even take a nap. This—this was too abrupt!

Eventually, Hiroki and I decided to leave as well. We took a step in a random direction and—

"Hey, you guys are rookies, right?" A man walked up to us and asked with a smile. The first thing I noticed about him was that he had a rather... large nose. A large, square nose. It was almost as if he had a boxing match and got punched right in the middle of his face, flattening his nose. "Do you want to go together as a group? It will be safer this way, and I can tell you a little bit about our opponents if you want. I've done the Hunter Exam multiple times already so I could at least inform you about the returning examinees."

... Well, I guess that was a good skill to have, in its own way. Knowledge was always important, though I was kind of sceptical of him when he said that he had gone through the exam several times and still didn't pass. However, teaming up did seem like a good idea.

"Sure!" Hiroki agreed immediately. I nodded to show that I welcomed him as well.

The box-nosed man grinned and shook our hands vigorously, really relieved that we accepted. "What are you names? I'm Tonpa." He jabbed a thumb towards himself.

"Hiroki," my brother returned the smile. "And this is my sister, Hiyori." Tonpa smiled at me and shook my hand, a kind gesture, and despite his square nose, I concluded that he wasn't a bad person.

As we started walking around the building in a random direction, I noticed that all the walls and rooms were built exactly the same, probably to confuse us. And it was working. In a matter of minutes, we were completely lost. It felt like we had gone nowhere, even though we probably walked through the entire first floor.

To the right of us, a group of people were trying to break through the wall with an axe and some other weapons, but to no avail; they didn't even manage to make a dent. I sighed. If only it was that easy.

On the map that we were handed, some rooms had a red X marked on them, which probably meant that there was something bad in them or we weren't allowed to go in. I thought about this and wondered if Gemmei was actually nice enough to just freely give out this information to us. I mean, wasn't the whole point to test our abilities? Which then led to the question: how trustworthy was she really?

"I think we should make sure if this map is accurate," Hiroki stopped and said the words right out of my mouth; this whole twin-telepathy thing even seemed creepy to me sometimes. Tonpa agreed eagerly and we headed towards the closest room marked with an X, which was up the stairs and on the third floor.

From the outside, the room was definitely nothing different: same door, same design, even the doorknob looked identical to the other ones. For the most part, it seemed safe, we had concluded. So, reluctantly, after exchanged nervous glances with each other, Hiroki reached out a hand and placed it on the doorknob. Hesitating, he took a deep breath and turned it, opening the door and walked in—

"Hold on!" Tonpa pulled my brother back just as he was about to take a step into the room. And, okay, I know it was a little mean to think of this towards someone I quite literally just met a few minutes ago, but _what was he doing_? This was our chance to gather information!

When I turned to question him, I saw that he was pointing to the bottom of the room. Or lack of a bottom, I should say, because there was actually no floor; it was just a giant, open pit that was who knows how deep. Hiroki quickly jumped back and retreated his foot, clinging onto his savoir.

"Thank you, Tonpa! I would've been a goner!" My brother sounded really relieved.

And _oh my god_, this square-nosed man just _saved our lives_.

I had been wrong. Tonpa just was looking out for us—I had been so, so wrong. I caught his eye as we walked back the way we came from, sending a smile his way to know that I was grateful for what he did. He reacted to my gesture of kindness with a surprised expression before grinning back and I thought I might've just made my first ever friend. It was a good feeling.

We started making our way down the hall in another direction, seeing we got to a dead end and confirmed that the map was accurate. My head was down, examining the map further trying to find a clue on how to get out, when—

"_Ouch!_ Watch where you're going!"

I looked up to see a boy around my age with spiky silver hair and aqua blue eyes, rubbing his arm and glaring at me as if bumping into him was a crime and he expected me to be on my knees begging for forgiveness. When I gave him an apologetic smile, he simply scoffed.

I arched an eyebrow. What was wrong with _him_?

His friends walked up from behind and apologized for his rude behaviour. I bid them goodbye before walking away and going to join up with my brother and Tonpa. I could feel the silver-haired boy's stare on my back all the way until I reach the end of the hallway. Finally, he turned and started walked away in the other direction, but not before muttering one word that was loud enough for me to hear:

"Weirdo."

* * *

**A/N: **And... Killua has been introduced! (Rather anti-climatically, but introduced nonetheless.)

Okay, information time: Tonpa will be the only person, aside from Gon's group, who will be appearing at the Hunter Exam. That means no Hisoka, Illumi, or anyone else. Think of this as a completely different exam on a completely different year with completely different examinees and examiners. (Because, quite frankly, I'm tired of reading a whole bunch of HXH stories where authors basically just rewrite what happened in the anime.)

And also, not every OC is going to be wary of Tonpa from the moment they step into the exam. Not every OC is going to be able to sniff out that he's secretly plotting against them. _Not every OC is going to hate Tonpa upon their first meeting. _Especially not Hiyori because she's been locked up inside her house her whole life and she wants to make friends. So yeah.

Once again, thank you to Reeyachan for beta-ing this. :D And leave a review! (Because you all love reviewing, right?)

**NEXT CHAPTER:** In which Kurapika talks about an underground civilization, a giant pile of pillows is found, and Killua calls Hiyori weird about five more times.

~Madin456.


	3. Tunnels, Shoes, and Dead Grass

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Hunter X Hunter.**_

Chapter 3: Tunnels, Shoes, and Dead Grass

It was peaceful for exactly five seconds.

After that, we were being chased by a rabid dog.

"RUUUUN!" A scream came from the hallway to our left and we stopped in our tracks to see four people dashing towards us, waving their arms widely to warn us of the dog behind them. At first, the three of us—Hiroki, Tonpa, and I—didn't know what was going on, didn't know how to react. But the minute we saw the sharp-teethed, oversized canine rapidly approaching us, we turned on our heels as quickly as we could and sprinted back the way we came from, desperately trying not to get a part of our bodies bitten off.

The hallway seemed to be longer than it had been a few minutes ago and reaching the end seemed like nothing but a fantasy; meanwhile, the dog was catching up with every ticking second until, and at one point, it would've bitten my leg off if my brother hadn't yanked me forward, out of its reach. My heart was pounding like crazy and my biggest worry at the moment was not becoming dog food.

Finally, we reached the end of the hall, turned the corner, and opened the door to the first room we saw before locking ourselves inside. Someone had to grab my arm to prevent me from falling into the giant hole that was in the middle of the room.

Great.

We just happened to get stuck in a room marked X.

After taking a moment to catch our breath, Hiroki eyed the door where the dog was barking like crazy and still trying claw its way in, and asked, "Okay, what the hell was _that_?"

The blonde-haired boy who had been running with us crossed his arms and sent a sharp look at one of his friends, the one holding a suitcase. "Leorio opened one of the doors marked X—right after we told him that it would be a bad idea—and released the dog that was inside. We didn't mean to get you guys involved." He sighed almost as if he was used to this kind of behaviour and it was just another everyday occurrence.

"Hey, how was I supposed to know what was inside without opening the door?" Leorio tried to defend himself. "Did _you_ know that a rabid dog was waiting on the other side, Kurapika?"

"Well, no," Kurapika frowned and crossed his arms, "but considering that we've encountered laser-shooting robots, a creepy clown who threw cards like knives, vemenous snakes, bees, and other deadly animals, it would only be logical to be cautious before opening another one of those doors."

"'_Don't worry, guys,'_ he said, _'what are the chances of there being something else dangerous inside,'_ he said," the silver-haired boy interjected, hands casually placed in his pockets, mocking the older man.

Leorio opened his mouth to reply, but seemed to have accepted his defeat and decided against it. Despite the situation we were currently in, I had the strange urge to laugh. I saw Hiroki grinning too.

"Gon! Help me out here," Leorio said desperately. "You wanted to open the door too!"

The boy in green blinked and smiled. "Yeah. I was curious to see what was inside."

"_See!_" Leorio cried and patted Gon's shoulder approvingly. "It wasn't just me!"

"Well… what do we do now?" Hiroki wondered aloud, interrupting them when he saw Kurapika sighing a second time, an indication that he was getting irritated. "There's a rabid dog outside the room and a giant hole _in_ the room. We don't have anywhere to go."

"We could wait until the dog leaves?"

The rest of us exchanged looks. The dog was still barking ferociously on the other side of the door and showed no intension of giving up. Who knew how long _that_ would take?

"Oh, I know! I know!" Gon waved his hand in the air enthusiastically, as if waiting to be picked on to answer a question in a classroom. "We could jump down the hole."

All twelve pairs of eyes turned to the spiky-haired boy dressed in green in shock, looking at him as if fire just spewed out his mouth. He was, to put it as nicely as possible, strange; his hair stood straight up and seemed to defy gravity and of all things, he held a _fishing rod_ in his hands. The boy scratched the back of his neck nervously at all the attention. "I mean, if we go outside, we'll have to face the dog. It'll be a lot quicker if we jump down and I'm sure we can take on whatever's at the bottom."

There was a moment of silence while everyone continued to stare at him. Leorio was the first to react; he grabbed his friend by the shoulders and shook him hard. "Are you _stupid_, Gon? We'd be jumping into our potential doom!" On the spiky-haired boy's other side, I noticed that Killua was eyeing him with interest, as if the thought of Gon suggesting to jump intrigued him.

"He's right," Tonpa spoke up for the first time. "Look at how deep that hole is. Who knows where we'd end up!"

To his right Kurapika had his arms crossed, eyebrows furrowed and bit his lip in deep thought. "Leorio, lend me your shoe for a second."

"M-my _shoe_?" Leorio's eyes widened in surprise, mouth hanging open. He sputtered out a few incomprehensible sounds. "I—wha—_why_?"

The blond sighed in exasperation. "Just hand it over. I want to test something out."

Looking at his friend in disbelief, the man reluctantly took off one shoe and passed it over to Kurapika. Eyes narrowed, he cautioned, "You better not do anything bad to it—"

Without warning, Kurapika chucked the shoe down the hole.

"—_MY SHOE!"_

Kurpaika quickly shushed him with a wave of a hand. He knelt down in front of the entrance of the tunnel in complete silence and listened, watching the darkness intensely. Not long after that, while Leorio was still mumbling to himself about the loss of his shoe, we all heard a faint _plop_ and everyone's eyes lit up. Hiroki and I exchanged looks.

"It seems like the tunnel isn't that deep," Kurapika did the honours of announcing the good news to everyone, shutting Leorio up. He took a deep breath and let it out. "I say we do as Gon suggested. Potential doom is better than getting eaten by a dog and dooming ourselves for sure. Who knows," he chuckled to himself, "maybe we'll get lucky and the hole will lead us to an underground civilization where the people there could show us a secret passageway out of the building and help us pass the Hunter Exam. What do you guys think?"

Gon beamed. "Let's do it!"

Killua shrugged, trying to stifle the sounds of his giggles at Leorio's horrified reaction. "Why not?"

Hiroki and I glanced over at each other. None of us expected the Hunter Exam to be anything like this, but we weren't complaining; plus, I haven't seen Hiroki smile this widely in a long time. It was an effect that Gon seemed to have on people because I found myself grinning too. The idea to jump was absurd and ridiculous and completely over the roof—but it just might work. "Okay," my brother said. Then, more playfully, he added, "but if anything happens to us, you're responsible!"

Now all that was left was Leorio. He was pacing around, seemingly in an internal debate with himself and eventually, he threw his hands up into the air and let out a grunt. "Oh, fine! Let's go retrieve my shoe."

"It's decided, then," Kurapia smiled.

And so, the seven of us stood around the hole in a circle and did the most logical thing:

We jumped.

* * *

Well, not quite.

"Wait, hold on," Tonpa spoke up for the first time since our discussion started, arms crossed. He had been so quiet that I had almost forgotten that he was there. "Count me out; you guys are all crazy. If you want to suicide, go ahead, but I'm not following you into a death wish." He walked over to the corner of the room and sat down stubbornly. "I'll just wait here for the dog to leave."

The rest of us glanced at the door and saw that the claws of the dog almost reached the inside, the door close to breaking down, which meant that in a matter of minutes, we would be vulnerable and there would be nowhere left to run. "Are you sure?" Hiroki asked. When Tonpa nodded, my brother shrugged and said, "Alright, good luck then."

I had kind of hoped that he would come along with us—he _had_ saved our lives, after all. And maybe, during one of the other phases of the exam, we could've repaid him that favour. I snuck a peak back at him and couldn't help but feel a little worried. _No,_ I thought, _he made a choice and I have to focus right now._

We all turned our attention back to the hole in front of us. "Waaait," Leorio shouted suddenly, glancing around, e vidently nervous about this. "Do we, like, hold hands or something?"

We all looked at each other and somewhat reluctantly, somewhat willingly, took hold of each other's hands. In my right hand, I felt the familiar feeling of Hiroki's fingers wrap around mine, giving me a reassuring squeeze, and in my left hand was the white-haired boy's surprisingly warm palm.

And finally, on the count of three, all of us stepped into the long tunnel of darkness.

* * *

When the fall ended, I had expected us to come speeding down with a **CRASH** and possibly breaking some bones in the process.

Instead, it was more of a... _plop_. And rather anti-climatic.

I was definitely disappointed that there was, in fact, no underground civilization like Kurapika's theory suggested, but at least we didn't die, so there wasn't really much to complain about.

At the bottom of the hole was a ridiculously large pile of pillows and Styrofoam. However, thanks to the mountain of pillows and Styrofoam, all of us were able to land somewhat comfortably with only minor injuries. Leorio, of course, was hugging this shoe as if it was his lifeline. From the corner of my eye, I saw him rub his shoe against his face and was momentarily disgusted because who knew how dirty that could be?

Ignoring Leorio, the rest of us made our way out of the mountain—some of us walking, some of us crawling, some of us _swimming_—and surprisingly found ourselves on the first floor of the building. I looked around to see that everyone else's mouth hung open and their eyes were wide like mine and wondered, _What was going on?_

As we walked out of the front door, Menchi was there to greet us. "Congratulations, guys! You all just passed the first phase of the exam—and with half an hour to spare!"

I stared at her, mouth open, gaping. I blinked. I looked back at the others. And then, a smile started to form on my face.

After her statement finally registered in our heads, everyone jumped up and cheered. I watched the boys' eyes light up as they high-fived and hugged each other and I thought that maybe this just might be even _better_ than finding an underground civilization. To celebrate happily with everyone like this—it was a good feeling.

Slowly, we all composed ourselves and settled down under a tree to pass time until the second phase would start. Real, proper introductions were exchanged and this time, there was no crazy dog chasing after us. I listened to Hiroki talk with Leorio, Kurapika, and Gon especially for a while before I leaned back and rested my head on the trunk of the tree, eyes closed, tuning the world out. It was peaceful just sitting there, feeling a breeze pass by every now and then, realizing just how exhausted and worn out I really was from all that running.

So when I felt a poke on my shoulder the first time, I hardly even noticed it. The second time, I thought it was simply someone brushing against me by accident. The third time, however, I knew it was no coincidence and either someone was trying to get my attention, or they were trying—and succeeding—to be annoying. It turned out to be the latter because a few seconds later, _I felt someone's cold breath on my neck._

Shocked, my eyelids fluttered open, my entire body jerking awake. It took me a while for to register what was in front of me and when my eyes finally adjusted to the harsh sunlight, I saw Killua grinning evilly at me, legs crossed with his hands behind his head. He looked as if he was attempting to act innocent after pulling off the world's biggest prank: his light blue eyes revealed a gleam of mischief and his smile threatened to take over his entire face.

"Hey, you're alive," he said and even though I was mortified and it was hard to resist the urge to smack him, I looked up, forcing myself to smile a little and at least pretend that I was somewhat social and not just completely awkward. I gave him a hesitant wave. "I thought you were dead."

Dead or alive aside, let's get to the main issue here: did he seriously just _blow_ on me?!

It would've been fine if he just squirted water on me or something, but this was his _breath_ that came from his _lungs_ and possibly contained his _saliva_. I wiped furiously at my neck to try to remove whatever that could've gotten on me. Even a cat's hairball wasn't this disgusting.

He watched me struggle with an amused smile as if he was satisfied that he finally got a reaction out of me. In turn, I glared at him and pulled out a handful of grass and threw it at him, feeling proud that I wiped the smirk off his face and he was now flailing his arms to remove the grass that got stuck on his shirt.

"Gaah!" Killua chocked and spat out some leaves from his mouth, wiping his tongue with his sleeve. "What was that for?"

Shrugging, I found myself suppressing a smile. I continued to pull out grass until there was an unhealthy pile of dead weeds beside me. The white-haired boy sat down in front of me and watched me, seemingly interested in observing how I was murdering blades of grass.

"So what did the grass ever do to make you give it an early death like this?" His half-lidded eyes bore into mine, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards to form a lopsided smirk. "Weirdo."

I stopped in mid-action. He had called me that before too, when I bumped into him in the building and was about to apologize. Looking up, I locked eyes with him, my brown orbs staring into his cool teal ones. He stared back, somewhat curious, and eventually, I tore my gaze away before it got too awkward. A smug expression manifested on his face, as if it had been a staring contest and he had just won and for some reason, I was beginning to feel kind of irritated.

I continued pulling out grass, waiting until he got bored—because _everyone_ got bored of me eventually—and decided to leave, but that didn't happen. He was burning a hole into my head and he just kept on watching as if he had nothing better to do. Frowning, my actions got faster and the pile of grass beside me increased drastically.

Killua called me weird, but _he_ had been the one who came here to watch me pull out grass. _He _had been the one who spoke as if the grass deserved a funeral or something. _He_ was the one making me suddenly feel self-conscious, as if his examining eyes could see all the way into my core and dissect me apart within seconds. And _he_ was the one who actually blew on me to wake me up.

If anything, _he_ was the weird one here.

Taking a deep breath, I turned to face him once again and frowned because he was _still_ staring, _still_ sitting there without muttering a word, and I couldn't help but feel fidgety when he just continued looking at me with the same emotionless, almost bored, expression.

When he finally spoke up, he was blunt. "Do you ever _talk_?"

It took all of my willpower to not flinch. That, however, didn't stop my eyes from widening or my hands from trembling slightly. I stared back at him in shock, my mouth opening and closing to say something, but not a peep came out—of course, what else did I expect? I was _mute_.

For the first time since the Hunter Exam started, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a notebook and pen. Flipping open the cover page, I rested the pen in between my fingers and clicked it open, feeling the familiar sensation of the cold metal in my hand. It felt like forever since I'd used the pen and I felt myself relaxing at the sight of the shiny, black ink.

'_No,' _I wrote. _'I don't talk.'_

I had really hoped that people would just sort of accept the fact that I was mute and move on with their lives instead of asking me about it so suddenly—so _rudely_—like Killua did. Guess people weren't as nice as I thought they were; I should've known not to expect too much or get my hopes up. But there really was no point in hiding it, especially if he figured it out already.

Killua stared at the notebook for a long time, eyebrows furrowed, as if he was trying to decipher a code. His eyes scanned it over and over again, almost as if he didn't believe what I had written there while I was left in the suspense to wait for his reaction.

"... You really _are_ weird," he said finally.

I smiled bitterly and leaned back. Of course. What else did I expect, considering that that was basically all he said to me so far, since the exam started. This was, what, the third time he called me weird in five hours? Let's see if we can break the record and reach twenty by tomorrow—not.

'_Is that all you have to say?' _At least his reply wasn't as bad as it could've been. At least he didn't list out a string of insults.

He raised an eyebrow at me, his usual smug smirk already back on his lips. "Oh, did you want me to add some more? Alright..." He drew in a deep breath and exhaled. "Mute, inferior, unapologetic, odd, stuuupid—"

I spoke too soon.

'_STOP.' _I interrupted, groaning. I was definitely not in the mood to listen to him while he happily went on listing insults about me; I didn't even think it was _possible_ to have so many insults about someone you met only a few hours ago. I would have none of this. At least, not unless I got to insult him back.

'_My turn.' _Scribbling furiously, I wrote down the worst put-downs I knew. _'Unpleasant, ugly, jerk, rude, disrespectful, bastard!'_

Killua was silent for a moment, as if he didn't believe I was capable of countering him. Well, I guess I sort of understood his surprise because I _did_ look a little more "fragile" than normal twelve-year-olds and my skin _was_ paler than what most people would expect a healthy skin tone to be and my hands _were_ always cold to the point where people wondered if I was secretly cold-blooded, _but_ none of that meant I was a weak, _oh-please-save-me-mister_, delicate girl who couldn't stand up for herself.

The boy seemed to have recovered from the shock and grinned. "Guess you weren't as bad as I thought you were, even if you _are_ still a weirdo."

The corners of my lips tugged downwards. What did _that_ mean?

Before I could scowl or question him, though, I noticed that something was off. In fact, the feeling of something wrong had been tingling throughout my body for a while now, my internal senses going off like crazy, tendrils of wrong, wrong, _wrong_ coursing through me. Eyes darting around quickly, I motioned for Killua to stop talking as I felt goose bumps beginning to form on my arm with the sudden atmosphere change.

No one was here.

Everyone—the examiner, the other examinees, Gon, Kurapika, Leorio, Hiroki—had disappeared.

Everyone was... **gone**.

* * *

Hunter Exam Phase 1—Start: 437 Examinees Entered

Hunter Exam Phase 1—Finish: 125 Examinees Remaining

* * *

**A/N: **Kudos to anyone who got the references of other HXH characters in this chapter. ;)

What did you guys think of the first phase? Killua's and Hiyori's interaction? Anything you liked, anything I could improve on? Thanks for reading and reviews are appreciated!

**NEXT CHAPTER:** In which Hiyori and Killua are lost, Hiyori gains an unwanted nickname, and they meet Snake Man.

~Madin456.


	4. Lost and Found

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Hunter X Hunter.**_

Chapter 4: Lost and Found

"… You're kidding me."

Killua glanced at me with an incredulous look before turning his attention towards the forest in front of us then back at me, his eyes wide and mouth open in surprise. He stood up from his previous sitting position and slowly retreated a hand from his pocket, combing it through his silver-white hair and kicked angrily at the ground. His eyes met mine, narrowed into a glare. "You're kidding," he said again, as if repeating it would take us out of this situation.

I only wished that was the case.

When I shook my head regretfully at his statement, he muttered a string of curses under his breath and stomped at the ground, scattering a colony of ants that had gathered close to him. "I can't believe this!" Killua cried out in frustration, huffing. "Everyone's gone! All the other examinees left for the next phase while I was talking to you!" He had been talking to himself, ranting as if I wasn't standing right in front of him; and now, it was as if he suddenly remembered that I existed again. "_You!_ While you were going on and on—insulting me nonetheless—I got distracted and now we're lost! And left behind!"

I frowned. Oh, so now it was all my fault? He came up to me and freaking _blew on my neck_—yeah, I was never going to forget about that—and started a war to see who could come up with the worst insult and called me _weird_ but nooo, we were currently in this situation because of _me_. Was there anything else he'd like to add to Blame-Hiyori-For-Everything Day?

Sighing, I wrote, _'Yeah, yeah. You can stand here and blame me all you want but I'm going to find Hiroki and the others again. I'm not going to fail this exam just because I got lost. So, you coming?'_

He made a _tch_ sound but followed me anyway. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he walked half a step behind me, muttering to himself as if I needed a reminder of how unhappy he was to be stuck with me. "So how do you plan on finding them, Yori? Do you have some kind of genius plan?"

I paused in my tracks. _'Of course I have a—wait, did you just call me... Yori?'_

He turned on his heels. "What's the big deal? That's your name, isn't it?"

'Hi_yori. My name is Hiyori.' _I frowned; it wasn't a hard name to remember. It was pretty common, too.

The white-haired boy shrugged nonchalantly. "Same difference. Plus, Hiyori has a whole extra syllable; Yori's easier to remember. So I'm going to call you Yori from now on." He smirked. "Now that that's settled, what's your plan?"

I deadpanned. _'Just... shut up for a moment, will you?' _And, of course, Killua had to open his mouth to protest, but I put a finger to his lips and the words died in his throat. Looking up at him, I was surprised that a simple finger was enough to actually make him fall silent. His eyes were wide and he was staring directly at my hand. It was then that I realized _my finger was on his lips_ and I could feel his slightly staggered breath on my skin.

Cheeks flushed, I quickly retreated my hand as he took multiple steps back. "_Ew_, now I have all of your germs on me," he whined, as if to say, _You have cooties. _

I waved my arms around, trying to show that it was an accident. Flustered. Embarrassed. _'S-sorry. Just—just be quiet for a moment.'_

This time, he didn't object. After a few seconds, I forced myself to calm down and focused my attention on finding the others. Closing my eyes, I gathered a concentrated amount of aura to my eyes and prepared to use _Gyo_. I could feel the power flowing through me, the long deprived sensation of _Nen_ coursing through my body like tendrils, and I felt oddly peaceful, despite the fact that _Nen_ was used mostly in combat.

Now came the hard part: the execution. It wasn't like I was inexperienced with using _Gyo_; I had performed the technique many times and it was almost like second nature now. It was more of the mental challenge I was worried about. Because the minute I opened my eyes, the minute I used _Nen_ of any kind, I would lose the bet I made with Hiroki and he would no doubt remember this for the rest of his life. The blow on my pride would be hard.

On the other hand, I couldn't think of another way to locate the rest of the group. And if I couldn't find them, then not only I but Killua would fail the exam too. Sure, he was kind of annoying at times but it wasn't like I hated him and I definitely didn't dislike him enough to want him to fail.

I took a deep breath. My pride.

Exhale. Passing the Hunter Exam.

Inhale. Winning the bet.

Exhale. _Killua._

My eyes opened.

That's right: Killua was waiting. It wasn't worth it, I thought, to make him fail with me. Right now, I needed to focus on getting us out of this situation. I looked around the area, taking in all the trees and bushes and animals and from the corner of my eye, in my peripheral vision, I saw something. It flowed in sort of a zig-zag and disappeared behind a tall tree. It was a trial, I realized.

Not a physical path that we could walk on, but a trail of _Nen_.

There, to the right, the examiner had conveniently left a trial of _Nen_, as if Gemmei knew that people would get lost and gave them a chance to regroup if they only looked hard enough. This was almost too easy.

It was my turn to smirk. _'This way,'_ I told Killua, grabbed his hand, and led him along.

* * *

_As Killua followed the brown-haired girl in front of him, he found himself extremely confused. Frowning and deep in thought, he must have subconsciously squeezed her hand because she stopped walking for a split second to turn towards him and send him a questioning look. He quickly lowered his gaze and looked away._

_This didn't make any sense. None of it added up properly._

_How did she possibly figure out where the others were?_

_Killua may have been complaining and whining about being lost earlier, but in reality, he knew how to find the others the whole time; being an assassin meant that he had to track people frequently and it was almost second nature to him. He was skilled in this area. He was experienced. She wasn't. _

_But the girl was currently leading them in the right direction. As the minutes ticked by, the two of them were drawing closer and closer to the rest of the group. Somehow, she had figured it. Somehow, by closing her eyes for a while and reopening them, she suddenly knew what to do, where to go. Somehow, but how?_

_The white-haired boy wanted to know, needed to know. It wasn't so much that he was curious; it was just that in the minute Yori had done the search with her eyes, Killua felt a sense of inferiority to her. To her, a girl. It was the same feeling he got when he was around Illumi, except without the killing intent. A tingle of... something had coursed through his body, his senses and instincts warning him of something._

_But there was no way that he was inferior to her, right? There was no way that he was weaker than her... right?_

_After all, he went through extensive training his whole life. Through all the whippings he endured with Milluki, all the electrocutions he sat through with Illumi, and all the missions he went on, Killua knew that truthfully, he was strong. No one experienced the same hard training that the Zoldycks were forced to partake in, beginning at the mere age of four. There was no way Killua was weaker than a city girl. _

_Killua glanced over at the girl who was still holding onto his hand. She certainly didn't look very strong; in fact, she seemed fragile with her pale skin and small figure, like she was a sick child who just got discharged from the hospital, like she could break down any minute. Like she's never left the comfort of her own house before. _

_Killua was confused, so he finally decided to ask: "Hey, Yori, how did you figure out where the others are?"_

* * *

At last, we reached a clearing and if I squinted, I could make out the figures of people—people from the Hunter Exam! I grinned. The two of us sped up our pace and as we walked, I heard Killua ask, "Hey, Yori, how did you figure out where the others are?"

I faced him and my smile grew bigger. So Killua really didn't know anything about _Nen_? It felt good to have finally wiped the smirk off his face. _'It's a secret!'_ I told him. _'I'll tell you after the exam... if you pass, that is.'_

Before he could protest—because I knew for sure that he was going to protest—I ran up to my brother and swung my arm around his shoulder, almost toppling him over. He stared at me, startled. _'Did you miss me? Were you devastated that your amazing little sister disappeared for a while?'_

Hiroki glared at me, pushing me off him and rubbing his neck. Then, a smile started to form on his lips. "If you're here after getting left behind... does that possibly mean that you used _Nen_ to find us again?"

I froze. I felt a part of me die on the inside. Turning away from him, I wrote, _'Yeah, yeah, you win the stupid bet.'_

"_Ha!_" Hiroki shouted in triumph. "I can't believe I won! _I won!_"

I groaned. Beside me, Killua had gone up to Gon and was currently complaining very loudly about how I got him distracted and how I almost got him lost and how I wouldn't tell him how I figured out which way to go. He deliberately spoke at a volume where he _knew_ that I could hear him and along with Hiroki finding out I lost the bet, this was a serious blow to my pride.

Walking over to him, I smacked the white-haired boy on the head. _'Shut up.'_

"_Ow!_ What was that for?" He cursed, rubbing his head and muttered, "Weirdo."

Here we go again. Just when I thought he could last an hour without calling me weird.

I sighed.

* * *

The examiner of the second phase of the Hunter Exam seemed normal enough. Not. The man was slightly taller than average with shaggy black hair and a sharp chin; he wore a dark red cloak with a hood that covered his ghostly pale face to just above his eyes and had striped tattoo markings all over his arms. As he walked towards us, he was completely silent and I couldn't help but think that it was almost as if he was gliding—_slithering—_across the glass, like a ghost, like a _snake_. He was just like a snake man.

Although Snake Man's appearance was more than a little unusual, I was currently more worried about what he had brought behind him.

In his right hand, the examiner held a leash and attached to that leash was a golden-furred, narrow-eyed, canine barring, vicious-looking tiger. It growled, tugging hard against the leash and jerked its body in our direction, as if it wanted to eat us. Which it probably did.

"Oh god..." I heard Leorio mutter.

Kurapika sighed. "There seems to be an endless amount of wild animals in this year's exam," he said, no doubt referring to the rabid dog that had chased us earlier.

Beside me, Killua whistled. He placed his arms behind his head and eyed the tiger with interest; he had this nonchalant look on his face, a spark in his eyes, as if he was familiar with giant, dangerous, man-eating animals. Knowing Killua, I decided to just leave him be and not question anything; I'd probably end up wishing that I didn't ask when I heard his answer. He just might say something along the lines of, _Oh, I live with a giant monster dog named Mike._

Snake Man lifted a finger and looked the tiger in the eye. "Sssit," he commanded firmly. The tiger sat. O-kay, so Snake Man could tame the wild animal with a single word. Great.

He then turned to face us and smiled, exposing sharp teeth of his own. "Welcome to the ssecond phasse of the Hunter Exam. My name iss Hebi and thiss here"—he gestured at the tiger—"iss Tora." With every word that he said, he drawled out the _s_ sounds, making it seem like he was hissing all the time. Just like a real snake. _Creepy._

"For five hourss," he continued, "you have to ssurvive in this foresst. _However,_ Tora will be in the foresst with you and he iss very hungry." To this, the tiger licked its lips and drool leaked from its mouth. "Sso hide from Tora for five hourss and you passs! Eassy enough, yess?"

One of the examinees grinned, twirling his rifle around casually. "All we have to do is kill the tiger, then, right?"

Hebi disappeared and reappeared just inches away from the person who just spoke up, dark grey eyes staring into blue ones. He hissed. "There will be no killing, undersstood?"

The man with the gun shrank back and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. "Y-yes, sir."

With a nod, Hebi retreated back to his former spot beside Tora and addressed the entire group again, "Alright, you guyss get a ten minute head sstart before I releasse Tora. Oh, I sshould mention that Tora iss blind. You may use that information however you want. Now go! Ten minutess sstart now!"

He shooed us away and as the group departed, it was evident that the tension from earlier was gone and was replaced by sighs of relief. Everyone was glad that the tiger was blind because, well, that obviously meant that it made things a lot easier for us. If Tora couldn't see where we were, then how was it possibly going to find us?

But I knew better.

If one of its senses was hindered, then I was almost certain that its other senses were in top condition to make up for the loss of its sight. After all, it still has to survive in the wild somehow and tigers weren't called the _King of the Jungle_ for nothing; they were born hunters and there was no way such a simple problem could give it that big of a handicap. It was wrong to underestimate Tora simply because—

I froze.

There was something—_someone—_here. Another presence other than my own. Waiting. Watching me.

A rustle.

My senses were now on high alert: I strained my ears to listen for any other noises; my eyes scanned the forest, darting right to left, taking in every blade of grass; I stood perfectly still, feeling changes in the wind. But before I even had the chance to raise my arms up in defence, golden-coloured fur flashed in front of me. I blinked and the next thing I knew, Tora flew out, sharp canines sparkling under the sunlight. A paw reached out towards me.

I swallowed thickly, beads of sweat trialing down the side of my face.

_Shit._

* * *

**A/N: **How did you like the little bit in Killua's POV? I'm thinking of doing a part in Hiroki's POV next chapter. Hope it doesn't feel too abrupt. ^^

Fun Fact: Hebi's name translates into "snake"—if Google Translate is accurate. He was originally going to be a man with scratched clothing who hung upside down on tree branches named Saru, which translates into "monkey." Yeah, I don't really know why there seems to be an animal theme going on.

Also... school starts tomorrow. I've had a writer's block and can't seem to get in the mood for writing lately. So updates might be slow(er). I'm really sorry. If you see that I haven't updated in a while, feel free to PM me and yell at me to hurry the hell up.

**NEXT CHAPTER: **In which a spider is killed, fishing rods are used to swing on trees, and Hiroki reveals that he had bombs hidden in his pockets the whole time. Dangerous stuff. And chapter 5 is pretty long.

~Madin456.


	5. Berry Juice War Paint

**A/N:** I KEEP FORGETTING TO CREDIT MY BETA. So before I forget _(again)_, every single chapter goes through the amazing Reeyachan before it is uploaded. So yeah. If I ever forget again, it's out there.

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Hunter X Hunter.**_

Chapter 5: Berry Juice War Paint

For the first time, I was actually _glad_ to see someone in pain.

A flash of yellow appeared before me and in the next second, Tora was on the ground. I stepped away just in time to avoid a pair of bokken swords slash down, knocking the tiger on the head; Tora clenched his head in pain, falling to the ground. When he recovered enough to stand up again, he fled faster than I could even say thank you to the person who saved me.

My knees gave away and I collapsed onto the grass with relief. For a few seconds, I continued to stare at the spot where the tiger had been with wide eyes, still not fully believing that I had survived. My pulse was still racing, my hands still shaking. But I _did_ survive and I was not only alive, but also generally uninjured. I was still breathing, my heart was still pumping, and I had made it through an encounter with a wild beast with nothing but a few scratches. I exhaled.

A hand was outstretched towards me, helping me back on my feet, and I glanced up to see blonde, blonde hair—the colour of my saviour.

_Kurapika._

"Are you okay?" he asked, leading me deeper into the forest, away from where Tora had been. As we walked, we were careful not to step on any sticks so that we wouldn't make any noise that would catch the tiger's attention and make it chase after us.

'_Yeah.' _I nodded and smiled in relief. _'Thanks. But why did you save me?'_

"Just because it's a survival game doesn't mean we can't look out for each other, right?" He smiled.

I found myself smiling back. _'Well, we should probably move away from here in case the tiger comes back.'_ I started walking and realized that I couldn't hear the sound of the blonde's footsteps anymore. I turned around._ 'Kurapika?'_

Kurapika was completely frozen, arms rigid by his sides, hands curled into lethal fists, eyes so wide that they looked like they were bulging out of their sockets. He was looking straight ahead unblinking, past my shoulder—no, he was looking _at_ my shoulder—and for a second his eyes seemed to flash red before returning to its original light blue colour.

Another flash, the red lingering longer this time. A third flash and his eyes were now completely stained in crimson.

Oh god.

His eyes had suddenly changed colour, almost as if they were bloodstained.

'_K-Kurapika?'_ I asked again cautiously, scared that anything I did would provoke him and make whatever was happening worse, though I doubted that he could register anything I was saying. There was a pained expression on his face and he looked really, really angry. _'Are you... okay?'_

"... der," he mumbled something that was barely audible. His eyes narrowed and in a harsh whisper, he repeated, "_Spider._"

Before I could process what was going on, his hand came flying at me, making contact with my shoulder in a loud slap. I stumbled back as he slowly lifted his hand to reveal a black smudge in his palm and some gooey looking liquid. His eyes have now returned back to its original colour and he converted back to his usual calm posture, even though I could still see that he was breathing heavily and shaking slightly. The angry look on his face dissolved and for the moment, I was just glad that he was back to normal.

His hand went to his eyes as if he was in pain and he collapsed on the ground, groaning. I sat down slowly beside him and looked at the thing in his hand: a dead spider.

"S-sorry about that," he said finally when he calmed down. He forced a smile but it faltered quickly. "I just... lose it when I see spiders."

I wanted to ask about why his eyes just turned red a few seconds ago but decided against it, realizing that I might not actually want to know the answer. To be honest, the whole eye-changing-colour thing kind of scared me. A lot. It wasn't something that happened every day and it certainly didn't happen to everyone. So instead, I settled with, _'You're... scared of spiders?'_

Kurapika let out a shaky breath and nodded. He looked at me like he was debating on whether he should explain it further or not and he seemed so undecided that I was beginning to feel bad. _'Um, you don't have to tell me about it if you feel uncomfortable talking.' _Then, with a small smile, I added, _'Everyone has secrets, right?'_

He smiled back at me and shook his head slightly. "No, it's nothing to hide. I trust you and you have a right to know after what happened." Closing his eyes for a brief moment as if to prepare himself, he took a deep breath and started his story.

He told me about his family, the Kurta clan, his best friend Pairo, and how he found them all slaughtered with their eyes gone from their sockets, leaving dark, empty voids to take their place. I felt my stomach churn when Kurapika described every death in such detail—pale skin, blood dripping all over their faces, body parts bent in all the wrong places, cold fingers amidst pools of red. He told me about his scarlet eyes, how they reacted due to his emotions, and how he swore to take revenge for his clan by killing every one of the Spiders—a group of thirteen thieves who mercilessly killed without feeling a thing.

And even though I wanted to block out what he was saying, place my hands over my ears and shut all the sounds out so I wouldn't have to hear his gruesome story, I listened attentively, not only to be polite but because it was like he was confessing everything to me, a complete stranger he met only a few hours ago, and the least I could do was pay attention.

I thought about how I would feel if I were in his position, if my father and my brother and Master suddenly died when I returned from the Hunter Exam and imagined them on the floor, not moving, not breathing, _dead._ Corpses. I found myself in shock at how much they mean to me; I would never have survived the past few years without Hiroki by my side and Master literally taught me everything I knew about _Nen._ Even father, who ignored me most of the time and barely spared a glance in my direction at dinnertime, was there ever since I was born; he gave me decent clothes to wear every day, a nice place to live, and enough food for three meals a day.

When Kurapika finished his story, I sat there completely shocked. How was I supposed to reply to something like that? A simple _I'm sorry _definitely wouldn't cut it. Saying, _Thing will get better from now on, I promise_ would sound fake and telling him _I understand_ would be nothing more than a lie.

So instead, I decided not to say anything at all.

I said nothing and simply wrapped my arms around him in a hug, held onto him tightly as if he was my lifeline, hoping that I could send my message across to him this way.

At first, he was surprised at the contact and I felt him tense up, but he was hugging me back soon and as cliché as it may sound, it felt like we've known each other forever.

But of course, since the moment had been so touching and peaceful, according to the universal rules of bad luck and timing, we were interrupted. By none other than Tora, who came back to get revenge for earlier.

_Watch out!_ I wanted to warn Kurapika about the tiger that was approaching him at top speed, but didn't have time to scribble anything down on paper. So I had to choose an alternative (ah, the perks of being mute). I n a moment of panic, I tackled Kurapika, slamming my body into his, and landed on the floor harshly just in time to avoid Tora's fangs grazing over the air above us—thankfully not in too awkward of a position.

"Thanks," Kurapika recovered quickly and dusted off his clothes. "I guess you saved me this time."

Normally, I would've let a comment like that inflate my already overly large ego and then proceed to brush it off as if it were nothing, but since the man-eating tiger was about to pounce after us again, things were a bit different this time. I mouthed the word _run_ and the two of us sprinted out of there like crazy.

Despite our head start of about a few seconds, we were still only human so it was more than easy enough for Tora to catch up to us, even if he was blind; it was only a matter of time before I could feel the tiger's hot breath against my leg, just a few inches away from biting a piece of my flesh off. We needed to find a way to escape—fast.

Zigzagging to avoid trees and bushes, we made our way through the forest just barely a few inches ahead of Tora. As we ran, I thought about how we could throw him off our trail; since he was blind, that meant he was either following us using his keen sense of smell or hearing. Which meant that we needed to find a way to disorient his senses.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kurapika drop to the ground. Confused, I paused in my step to extend out my hand as he scrambled to get up. "Thanks, I must have tripped," he said. Tripped on _what_, though? Looking down, I saw a line of red and my eyes widened. Blood? Or—berry juice?

The two of us started running again, faster this time to make up for the lost distance. Quickly, I took out my notebook and wrote, _'Kurapika, did you trip on a berry?'_

"Yeah, I think so. Why?"

'_Grab as many berries as you can find.' _I grinned while he gave me a curious look._ 'I just thought of a crazy idea.'_

* * *

Five minutes later, Kurapika and I were rubbing berry juice furiously on ourselves. We had gathered a handful of a variety of berries from blueberries to raspberries to any other type of berry that happened to grow in this forest. Most of the juice went to our face since the rest of our bodies were covered with clothing so now we somewhat resembled colourful face painters, or perhaps, monsters.

The plan was that once we finished applying the berry juice, we would stop running and stay perfectly still so that Tora would mistake us for simply another plant in the forest. We slowed down to a walk and stood behind a large tree as the tiger came up from beside us. Tora came to a halt, confused on how he lost us so easily, and jerked his nose in the air to catch our scent.

_Sniff._

I held my breath as he walked right beside us and ignored the growing itch on my face. The tiger was so close to the point where it could just turn its head, snap open its jaw, and effortlessly chop our legs off.

_Sniff._

Kurapika and I quickly, quietly, shuffled out of the way to avoid Tora's swinging tail. If it touched us even once, we knew that we were done for because no matter how much we hide our scent, we couldn't hide the fact that we simply didn't _feel_ like plants.

Taking one last sniff, the tiger ran off to search for another victim elsewhere, having given up on us and admitting its loss. Relief flooded through me. I slumped down on the ground, mentally worn out.

Then, a grin spread across my face and I turned to Kurapika to exchange high-fives. _We did it._

* * *

Hiroki thought of himself as a pretty decent hide-and-seek player.

A few years ago, he used up a lot of his free time in the town mall, right across from the Michiyo household. He would browse through all the stores one-by-one, spending hours and hours walking through every aisle, every hallway, every revolving door. All of the store workers recognized him—not because he was part of the infamous Michiyo family, but because he had a reputation as a no-good troublemaker.

He stole. He robbed. He tricked workers into lowering the price of products by ten percent, twenty percent, fifty percent. And no one did a damn thing about it except holler after him as he ran out the store carrying bags and bags of items because no one was stupid enough to get on his father's bad side.

But after weeks and weeks of losing profit, none of the stores could quite figure out _why_, exactly, Hiroki did it. His family was considered to be upper-class and he was practically so rich that he could roll around in the family's money and still have enough to survive a few generations; it was evident that Hiroki lived in a larger than average house and wore nice, clean clothes whenever he went outside. So why couldn't he just _buy_ the products? A five-dollar water gun would hardly put a dent in their savings.

On top of that, Hiroki didn't even steal expensive items: he took toy trucks, wooden soldiers, books, DVDs, stationary, and most of all, puzzles. Puzzles of diverse difficulties ranging from ones with a hundred pieces to ones with two thousand pieces. On average, he would carry about ten puzzles home every month.

No one knew why he did it.

No one knew that he was taking all these things home for his younger sister.

Hiyori Michiyo never went out to buy items that were considered to be luxuries nor did she ever ask for them. She simply couldn't. So Hiroki did it for her. He went against their father's wishes and stole toys and games and snuck outside when he wasn't home and came back before anyone could notice that he had left.

And it all lead back to hide-and-seek. In a game of hide-and-seek, the key to winning was not to find the best hiding place and stay there; doing that was as if the player wanted and was waiting to be found. Instead, Hiroki learned that watching the seeker at all times and moving around to avoid being spotted was what led to true success.

Which led to what was happening now. During the second phase of the Hunter Exam, while everyone else was busy running away from the tiger, Hiroki took a different approach; he deliberately tracked down Tora and followed it everywhere it went, has been following it since the very beginning. He was careful to stay at least a good five metres behind the tiger at all times and he planned to continue with this tactic all the way to the end if it hadn't been for a certain boy swinging himself through the forest with a fishing rod.

"Gon!" Hiroki called out to the boy dressed in green. "What are you doing?" Though what he was doing was pretty clever, Hiroki had to admit. Using the fishing rod to grab onto tree branches and swing himself forwards was definitely faster than simply running on the ground.

"Oh, hey Hiroki!" Gon responded. "I'm trying to get away from Tora. I accidentally angered him and now he's been chasing me for over three minutes. You should start running too." The boy nodded his head behind Hiroki to where the tiger was, gaining distance on them quickly.

"Crap!" Hiroki immediately jumped to his feet and sprinted away. "You don't happen to have another one of those fishing rods do you, Gon?"

The boy shook his head and jumped down from the tree to run alongside Hiroki. "Yeah, didn't think so," Hiroki sighed. "I guess we have no choice. Alright, Gon, I have an idea on how to throw the tiger off our trial and I'll need your help."

Gon grinned. "Okay! What is it?"

Hiroki dug his hands deep into his pockets and pulled out a black metal ball. On one side of the ball, there was a series of numbers counting down—a timer. On the other side was a small hook. Hiroki threw the ball casually over to Gon who fumbled around to get a grip of it, then gasped when he actually did catch it, only to almost drop it again.

The spiky-haired boy retaliated. "Is this... a _bomb_?"

Hiroki grinned—a menacing, almost evil-looking grin. "Of course, what else would it be?"

"Ehhh," Gon exclaimed, surprised. "So you had bombs in your pocket the whole time?" The boy dressed in green laughed. "And you guys said that bringing a fishing rod was weird!"

"Speaking of your fishing rod, do you think you could throw the bomb somewhere close to Tora so we don't get impacted by the blast? There's no way that either of us can throw that far."

Gon frowned. "Sure, but I thought Hebi said that we can't kill the tiger."

"I know," Hiroki said, smirking. "That's why that bomb is just a smoke bomb. It will blind Tora's senses for a few minutes and during his time of panic, we make our escape."

The boy dressed in green formed an O with his mouth and nodded eagerly. Attaching the bomb to his fishing rod, he stopped running just long enough to thrust his arms forward and throw the bomb right in front of the tiger, mumbling, "Sorry, Tora, but this is the only way we can pass!"

Soon, smoke filled the air, rising up and surrounding the small portion of the forest they were in in grey. Just as planned, the deadly tiger that had been chasing them earlier came to a halt and frantically swatted its paws around to get rid of some of the smoke while the two Hunter Exam participants covered their noses and ran for their lives.

And they laughed the whole way because, hey, smoke bombs were fun.

* * *

Leorio never thought his suitcase full of medical supplies would come in handy when facing a tiger in a forest.

It had been fairly peaceful for him since the start of the second phase; he had only seen the golden-furred tiger a few times while it was chasing some other participants and he managed to stay far enough that he didn't attract any attention to himself. At times, he would flinch and grimace as cries of agony sounded from all around him and he would bite his lip to prevent himself from making a rash decision. He knew that even if he went to help the others, he would only end up getting himself eaten.

He had done a pretty good job of avoiding trouble—until now. Because now, he was running for his life.

Leorio could've sworn that Tora hadn't been there a second ago, but it didn't really matter; he could make up as many excuses as he wanted and it still wouldn't change the fact that he had been caught off guard, had been underestimating his opponent. Not that he had the time to make up a list of excuses anyway.

The doctor in training had never had the best stamina. After only a few minutes, he was already panting, out of breath, and sweating all over. He cursed himself for not working out at the gym more often as he pumped his arms forward. He had spent hours and hours studying medicine, not knowing that it would all go to waste because he was about to become a blind tiger's lunch. Suddenly, he was angry. The stinky medicine he had in his suitcase could provide him with no help in the end—or could it?

Leorio halted, planting his feet on the ground. In a fluid motion, he unlocked his suitcase and glanced over the many bottles of pills it contained until his eyes lay upon the one he was looking for. He tore the packaging open and sniffed. It took everything he had not to gag and cough—yup, the medicine was still as stinky as he remembered it to be.

For the first time, Leorio smiled as Tora closed in on him. He waited, heart thumping against his chest. When the tiger threw open its mouth, revealing a very sharp set of fangs, Leorio thrust a handful of the pills into its mouth.

The effect was immediate; as the pills began to dissolve due to the tiger's saliva, Tora coughed in agony, desperately trying to choke up the unknown substance it swallowed. All thoughts of chasing participants of the Hunter Exam were gone. Leorio took this chance to escape.

It looked like medicine could really save a person's life—in more ways than one.

* * *

_BRIIIIIING._

A loud siren rang throughout the forest making both Kurapika and I jump. We turned our attention away from the smoke that had filled the part of the forest to our left and exchanged glances; neither of us knew what the sound meant and we didn't know how to react to it. Run? Hide? Take cover?

Thankfully, an announcement cleared things up for us in the upcoming minutes. "Phasse two of the Hunter Exam iss now over," a voice I recognized as Hebi's rang throughout the forest. "All remaining participants musst follow the flasshing red light back to the clearing to proceed to phasse three."

Sure enough, in the distance ahead, I could see a beam of red light that guided us back to where we had started. Exhaling, relief flooded through me. We had successfully passed the second test and we didn't have to worry about being chased by the golden-furred tiger anymore. And most of all, we didn't have to always be cautious of being eaten alive.

"Well?" Kurapika nodded towards the light. "Shall we go?"

I nodded. _'I hope we can wash this berry juice off soon. It's getting kind of itchy.'_

"Maybe you rubbed poison ivy on by accident?"

I froze. _'W-what did you say?'_

"Relax," he chuckled. "I was just kidding."

Frowning, I wrote, _'Not funny. I didn't know you had that kind of dark humour, Kurapika.'_

When we finally reached the clearing, Hebi was there to congratulate us and after taking a survey around the area, I noticed that the amount of examinees has been reduced to only a few people, which meant that over three hundred people failed the first two phases. Out of those three hundred people, I wondered how many of them were eaten by Tora. I shuddered at the thought.

Eventually, we managed to group up with Gon and the others and I was glad that our circle of friends all passed successfully. My moment of relief was quickly ruined when I met eyes with the white-haired boy.

Killua took one look at me and burst out laughing. "What—what happened to your _face_, Yori?"

I desperately tried to wipe off the berry juice. _'Shut up.'_

* * *

Hunter Exam Phase 2—Start: 125 Examinees Entered

Hunter Exam Phase 2—Finish: 20 Examinees Remaining

* * *

**A/N:** Ahhh, sorry for the delay, but this was a long chapter so I hope that makes up for it? I really missed writing. And I know there wasn't a lot of Killua in this chapter, but I wanted to show Hiyori build relationships with the other characters too. There will definitely be much more of Killua in the next chapter. And some fluff. What did you think of Hiroki's POV, though? I feel like he isn't getting enough screen time, haha.

Confession: I think Kurapika would make a good boyfriend. XD

**NEXT CHAPTER: **Airship.

~Madin456.


	6. Airship Adventures

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Hunter X Hunter.**_

Chapter 6: Airship Adventures

I drew in a deep breath.

This is real, I told myself. This is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and your foot is just a few centimetres away from the metal platform. Everyone in front of made it through and you _saw_ them do it. This is actually happening.

Slowly, I extended out my foot and placed it cautiously on the raised area above me. I shut my eyes, counted to ten, and opened them again, just to make sure that I was actually here and that this wasn't just another fantasy dream I was having. It was everything I have ever wanted and more. I never thought that such good fortune would befall upon me. Tears swelled up in the corners of my eyes because I was so happy.

I, Hiyori Michiyo, was currently standing on a huge aircraft that the Hunter Committee owned.

_Oh. My. Freaking—_

"God, can you please _hurry up_? At this rate, the Hunter Exam is going to finish before you even take another step. "

Of course. _He_ had to be there to ruin the moment.

Before I could turn around to glare at the white-haired speaker, I was pushed hastily into the aircraft by rough hands, stumbling into the vehicle and just barely stopping myself from toppling over. Killua stepped in after me, hands in his usual position in his pockets, and the door behind us closed. "Jeez, slowpoke. What's wrong with you?"

I sighed. When Hebi said that we would be on an aircraft for the next few hours until we reached the destination of the second phase I felt my heart skip a beat and a grin stretched across my face because just the thought of seeing an aircraft up-close was exciting. Now, as the smile slipped off my face, I felt that this wonderful experience was being ruined by a certain someone.

'_Nothing's wrong with me. You didn't have to shove me like that, you know,'_ I wrote, then ripped out the page from my notebook and threw it at him.

Killua swatted the paper to the side effortlessly. "If I didn't push you, you would still be standing there staring into space for who-knows-how-long." He smirked. "I did everyone a good deed."

At this point, I had a decision to make: either continue our never-ending conversation of insults or enjoy the rare view that was taking place outside as the airship prepared to take off.

I choose the latter.

Ignoring Killua's previous comment, I shifted my gaze outside the window and watched as we went airborne. The forest we were in for the second phase of the exam grew smaller and smaller until it was just a green speck. Birds flew past us and if I rolled down the window and reached out my hand, it would undoubtedly run through a cloud. I wondered what it would look like a night, when all the lights in the city would be lit up into a rainbow spectrum of colours.

It was truly a mesmerizing sight. One that I only dreamed of experiencing before.

I cautiously placed a hand on the glass in front of me, rubbing the smooth surface. This was the same glass that I would look out of every day when I was a kid, longing to break through it and step outside. And now, it was like that again—like I could only see and not feel, like the experience was cut short—but freer, somehow. The nostalgic feeling was resurfacing.

Behind me, Killua cleared his voice, slightly irked that I had ignored him for so long. "Is it really that interesting to look at? It's just the same thing you've always seen but at a higher angle."

'_Yeah,'_ I replied absentmindedly, never taking my eyes off the window, _'it is.'_

A silence settled for a few minutes before he spoke again. "Are you done yet?" He asked, exasperated.

'_No.'_

"Will you _ever_ be done?" I could hear the obvious frown in his voice.

'_No.'_

He sighed and leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "You act like you've never seen the outside before."

I froze. My blood ran cold. Suddenly, the view outside seemed less attractive than it had earlier.

The white-haired boy grinned. "Now that it seems like you're done," he leaned back, hands deep in his pockets, "want to explore the ship?"

I arched an eyebrow. _'You just want to check out that room with the DO-NOT-ENTER sign, don't you?' _On the way here, we had passed a door near the back of the airship that had sloppy red words written on a blank sheet of paper stuck to it. At the time, if I hadn't been so distracted by the view outside, I would've wanted to find out what was inside too.

Killua's smile stretched wider as he turned on his heels to lead the way. "Yup."

* * *

It turned out that the DO-NOT-ENTER sign was placed on the door for a good reason. Entering despite the generous warning could lead to severe anxiety and the need to question life decisions. Killua and I learned that the hard way.

When we first opened the door, we were met with a stack of paper being thrown in our direction. I couldn't have asked for a warmer welcome. The two of us dodged out of the way skilfully and stared at the round-headed man in front of us who seemed to be in a panicked state, still tossing paper around unaware that he had company in the room.

Killua cleared his throat loudly. The man turned around and blinked his wide eyes owlishly at us. A flash of confusion crossed his face as he glanced down at the numbered pins on our shirts before readjusting his tie and frowned. "What are you two doing here? Didn't you see the DO-NOT-ENTER sign posted outside?"

I exchanged looks with the white-haired boy. Now that he was facing us, I recognized the man in the suit to be Beans, the secretary of the Hunter Association; he was the one who handed us our pins and registered all the examinees in the Hunter Exam. If we got in trouble now, he could probably have us both disqualified.

"The sign, uh, fell down," Killua lied. "We were just exploring the airship."

Beans sighed. "This is the airship's storage room where all the important documents are kept in an organized fashion. I ask that you kindly leave and explore somewhere else."

Killua surveyed the room, taking in the papers that were scattered everywhere, and raised an eyebrow. "It doesn't look very organized to me."

"_I know!_" Beans snapped, scratching his head in frustration. "But it's not my fault that someone came in here and stole the documents containing the information for the next phase of the exam! I looked everywhere but I couldn't find it... and there's no way that I'd misplace such important information." He slumped to the floor, on the verge of tears. "Chairman Netero trusted me with running the exam and I couldn't even..." He trailed off, lowering his head in shame.

This seemed to pique Killua's interest. He immediately stood up straighter and leaned in. "What do you mean documents containing information for the next phase was stolen?"

The secretary rubbed his head and sighed. "See, the process for the Hunter Exam is... complicated. Every year, about a few months before the date of the actual exam, the Hunter Association chooses candidates for the people who will run that year's exam—in other words, the examiners. After they are chosen, a letter is sent out to each of them containing all the necessary information and the requirements they need to fulfill in order to truly become an examiner.

"One of those requirements is to submit a detailed report stating what kind of exam—including the location, props, and whatever else is necessary in order for the test to be completed—they have in mind. This is to be handed in a month before the exam date so that all preparations can be met. And... this job is given to the secretary to take care of: me.

"However, this time... it seems that all the documents containing information on the third phase of the exam has been stolen. At this rate, I'll have to cancel the next phase. Which is why..." Beans, who has kept his head down and his gaze away from us the whole time, suddenly looked up, eyes wide, pleading. "Which is why, on behalf of the entire Hunter Association, I beg of you, please help me find who stole the documents!"

I looked over at Killua, shocked by Beans' outburst. There was no way we could possibly find someone who stole from the secretary of the Hunter Association. There was just no way—

Killua nodded courtly. "Alright, we'll do it."

—but yes, we had to try.

I grinned and with relieved shouts of _Thank you! Thank you so much!_ coming from Beans, the two of us exited the room, not as contestants participating in the Hunter Exam, but as detectives with a mystery to solve.

* * *

"Okay, so what do we know about the thief?"

'_Hmm... well, they have to be on this airship and they have to be a participant, otherwise there would be no benefit in stealing the documents.' _I frowned. _'That doesn't tell us very much.'_

Killua sighed. "Yeah, there are still nineteen examinees left—seventeen excluding ourselves. Do you think it could be either Gon, Hiroki, Kurapika, or Leorio?" I shook my head; they didn't seem like the kind of people who would cheat. "Then that makes thirteen."

'_Well, I guess we could start by questioning each of them and trying to find who seems suspicious? Do you think we should tell Kurapika and the others?'_

His face morphed into an expression I couldn't read. "What, did you suddenly become best friends with Kurapika?" There was a hint of... _something_ in his voice.

'_What are you talking about? I just thought that the process would be faster with more people. You don't have to be so offended. I'm fine with searching for the thief ourselves, okay?'_

The boy shoved his hands deep in his pockets. "... Whatever."

And so, we started walking around the airship, with obvious tension and awkwardness in the air. After a while of shuffling behind Killua and not speaking a word to each other, I concluded that he was mad at me. But about _what_? I didn't want him to be angry at me but I also didn't see anything wrong with my question earlier. Biting my lip, I frowned. I didn't like this atmosphere at all.

Pushing irrelevant thoughts out of my head, I tried to focus on the task at hand. We stopped everyone we came across and spoke with them for a couple of minutes, asking questions that might make them confess something. However, the results were a lot more disappointed that I had expected because after a certain point, we could practically predict the outcome. The conversation usually went one of two ways:

1\. The person did not want to associate with us whatsoever and answered questions in a court manner that would make the conversation end faster.

Example:

Killua: Hey, can we talk to you for a moment?

Addressed Person: ... Sure.

Killua: How do you find the exams so far?

Addressed Person: ... They're okay.

Killua: Do you have any idea what the next phase is going to be?

Addressed Person: No.

Killua: Have you been preparing for the next phase since we got on the airship?

Addressed Person: ... Not really.

Killua: What have you been doing, then?

Addressed Person: ... Nothing.

Killua: Okay, well, thanks. We'll be going now.

Addressed Person: Bye.

2\. The person answered very enthusiastically, leaving almost no time for us to ask any other questions or continue the conversation.

Example:

Killua: Hey, can we talk to you for a moment?

Addressed Person: Oh, hi! Yes, of course, I'd love to talk with fellow participants!

Killua: How do you find the exams so far?

Addressed Person: Well, that first test with escaping the building was absolutely crazy! I mean, jumping down a hole that you didn't know where it led? Whoever thought of that must've been insane! Oh, I eventually mustered up the courage to take the risk, which is why I'm here right now, but let me tell you: I was _super_ scared. It seemed like the tunnel just never ended. As for the second phase—

Killua: That's enough. Do you have any idea what the next phase is going to be?

Addressed Person: Of course not! Though I _do_ have a few ideas in mind... who knows what we might be asked to do? Run for miles without stopping? Survival in the forest? Fight to the death? I'm so excited, though! I've always wanted to be a hunter! Just think of all the fun things you could do. And all the money you could make! Oh no, I'm not poor or anything, but having all that money would certainly be helpful and—

Killua: Come on, Yori, let's go. We're done here.

And with that, we left the person to continue blabbing on by themselves.

When we finished questioning everyone and came up empty-handed, the two of us slumped to the ground, already exhausted.

"Well, that was a complete waste of time," Killua muttered. "How come you didn't talk to them at all? Or write to them—whatever." He pouted slightly. "Now I have a dry throat while you're perfectly fine."

'_People give me weird looks when they find out that I don't talk. Plus, I thought you could handle it. Clearly, I was mistaken.'_

"Then you handle the next one," he grinned, "because I just thought of a plan."

* * *

Killua's so-called plan involved writing. Lots of writing.

It turned out that for the next couple of hours, I did nothing but write out fake documents of what the third phase of the exam could be, and I was pretty sure my hand was going to detach itself from the rest of my body soon. I had gotten more cramps in these few hours than I had in my entire life. On top of that, Killua was so demanding; he told me to write each set of applications in different handwriting styles so that no one could tell they were all written by the same person. When I asked him why he couldn't help me with all this, he simply smirked and said he was preparing for the next stage. As if.

The first step in his plan was fairly easy: we were going to leak out all of these files to some of the other participants. The second step was less controllable and contained more praying on our part. We hoped that the information of multiple files would cause the thief to panic and think that the one he stole could've been a fake. Then, he'd come back to Beans' room, the one marked with the DO NOT ENTER sign, to check and confirm his suspicions—and we'd be right there waiting for him.

Reluctantly, I had agreed to this plan for the sole reason that I couldn't think of anything better. Though I would've really appreciated if this involved a lot less writing.

Jotting down the last word on what felt like the hundredth document, I fell backwards from my unmoved position on the floor—crouched and uncomfortable—and sighed deeply. I flexed my fingers and couldn't stop myself from grimacing at the pain such a small action caused.

Using my feet, I kicked the finished documents toward Killua. _'There. Take the stupid papers. I never want to see them again.'_

The boy got up lazily from his seat and yawned before reaching out to examine my work. "Finally. Took you long enough, Yori. I almost fell asleep."

I gritted my teeth and refrained from punching the guy in the face, in fear that I would only inflect more pain on my already throbbing hand. Ungrateful bastard.

I watched Killua quickly scan over the sheets. He let out a satisfied grunting sound and left the room to pass them out to the other examinees. Rolling over on the floor in fatigue, I allowed myself to close my eyes just for a second after all my hard work.

* * *

A second turned into minutes and before I knew it, a good half hour passed until I started slipping back into consciousness. Vaguely, I heard a soft _click_ from far away that indicated the door to my right was opening. I remembered my position on the floor right in front of the entrance and I thought I should probably move to make way for whoever was coming in, but that thought seemed to have been interrupted before my muscles got the message because my only goal now was to go back to sleep.

The next thing I knew, a heavy weight landed on my stomach and this time, I woke up for good. Tiredly, my eyelids fluttered open before widening completely at the sight on front of me—or rather, _on_ me.

'_Killua?! What are you doing?'_

The white-haired boy was lying face down across my stomach, as if I had become his personal pillow. He groaned and raised his head to glare at me, his face just a few inches away from mine. Unwillingly, I felt blood rush to my cheeks at the proximity. He didn't seem to notice. "What are _you_ doing?" He snarled. "You leave a huge mess on the floor and just start _sleeping_ right in front of the door? Did you forget that people walk through here?"

I looked around and saw that everything he said was true. _'Sorry… I'll clean it up right away. How did distributing the files go?'_

"Everyone bought twithout a doubt. I also got Gon and the others to help so we finishet a lot sooner than I expected.

'_Great, now we just wait until the real culprit comes.'_

A pause.

'_Um, Killua?'_

He glanced back at me.

'_I'm sure my, uh, stomach is a good pillow and everything, but could you get off me now?'_

He looked startled, as if he had forgotten that we were still in this position, and quickly scrambled to his feet, the tips of his ears turning pink. "You just had to fall asleep on the floor…" he muttered.

There was tension in the room now. It was awkward. Almost as if a monster had been behind us the whole time but never actually thought of us as targets—until something triggered it and now we were being victimized.

Thankfully, before that monster swallowed us up completely, the door burst open, revealing a panicked-looking middle-aged man. He was panting, out of breath, as if he had rushed here form the other side of the airship. Beads of sweat trailed down the sides of his face. With dark hair and a muscular build, I'd say-

The man's eyes flickered around the room and landed on Killua and I. "S-sorry, wrong room." His hand reached to open the door again and retreat out of the room.

Instantly, Killua was between him and the door. "Hold on. Tell us your name before you leave."

The man seemed hesitant, but eventually replied, "Juugo."

Killua stared directly into his eyes. "And what did you come here for?"

Juugo took a defensive step back. "Why do I have to tell you that, kid? It has nothing to do with you!"

"Did you want to find the documents that contained information about the third phase?" Killua nodded in my direction. Quickly, I scrambled to pick up a few papers, not knowing if they were even the real thing or not. "We have them and we might be willing to share."

At that, Juugo grinned and his eyes turned greedy. "Ah! So you kids had the same ideas as me all along! The exam's pretty tough, isn't it? I tried to take the papers earlier but rumours have been going around that the one I took was a fake so I came back here to confirm it. If you give me the ones you have, I'll let you see the ones I have. Why don't we help each other out?" He reached for the sheet in my hands but I pulled away.

Killua's smile turned menacing. "On second thought, never mind. No can do."

Juugo's grin immediately faltered. "What do you mean?"

"I lied," the white-haired boy shrugged. "These aren't the real documents and we're not really here to steal anything."

"Huh?" Juugo answered intelligently.

"Beans asked us to find the culprit who stole the documents so all the rumours and fake papers were all a setup. And now that you've kindly admitted that you were the one who took them in the first place, you will be disqualified."

The man's face drained of colour and morphed into a look of horror. "N-no way! I've come this far; there's no way I'm going to back out now!" Juugo took a swing at Killua while the boy simply sidestepped his attack and hit him on the back of his neck, effectively knocking out the muscular man.

Killua and I looked up at each other in triumph. "Now, let's bring this cheater back to Beans."

I nodded and followed him out of the room with the DO-NOT-ENTER sign to find the Hunter Association's secretary. As he opened the door, I stared after Killua. It was weird, it was unexpected, and the idea would've sounded absurd, but surprisingly, the two of us made a good team.

* * *

**A/N:** Can you believe it? Yes, I did, in fact, update this story. Don't be too alarmed. Since summer break started in July, I haven't written _anything_ so I decided to continue this. I don't know when the next update will be up, but enjoy this long chapter for the time being. (I actually want to rewrite this entire story and change _a lot_ of major things, like the fact that Hiyori is mute, but I'm honestly too lazy. I know this fanfic doesn't have the best plot or character development or writing in general, but really, I'm just continuing this for fun. So please bear with me.)

I know nothing about the details of the Hunter Exam so everything about the report is made up. It seems kind of legit though, right?

**NEXT CHAPTER **(if there is one): In which the third phase of the exam begins and Killua gets jealous. Also, a maze. A giant maze.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! I actually have most of this story planned out in my head, minus a few details, so I'm confident that I'll be able to answer anything you're concerned about. Reviews are very much appreciated, as always. I wonder if anyone is still here after so long.

~Madin456.


	7. Maze, Maze

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Hunter X Hunter.**_

Chapter 7: Maze, Maze

Devastation. Disappointment. Disaster.

There were a lot of other emotions flooding through my body that could be described using the letter _D_ when the thick, metal blinds of the airship lowered as we neared our destination. My body was pressed up against the window, trying to get one last glimpse of the world outside from a bird's eye view, but it wasn't long before I was shut out completely. In a matter of seconds, my hopes were crushed—disposed of.

Another _D_ word.

I slumped on the ground. This was real. This was actually happening. A once in a lifetime opportunity that's so close I could literally _touch_ it if I just reached out and I was _wasting it._ And just to add to the list of _D_ words: I was in a state of depression.

The announcement came on, static echoing loudly at first, followed by a booming voice. "Attention to all participants of the Hunter Exam. We are nearing the location of the third phase and your examiner is at the bottom waiting for you. The blinds are now secured on all the windows to prevent you from looking outside as a precaution for the next test and we ask for your cooperation and understanding as we land. Thank you."

And then, in a few minutes, we were shooed out of the airship.

The moment I stepped back onto solid ground, I felt a sense of loss. I was, without a doubt, never going to set foot in an airship again. I thought I had long gotten over the fact that I wouldn't be able to see the outside world like everyone else, that I would be confined in my house until death, only getting glimpses of green trees and blue skies and colourful flowers from a window. Apparently, I was wrong.

It took a while of Killua's curious—and somewhat intimidating—stare before I snapped out of it and returned back to reality. I quickly joined the group of examinees ahead of me, avoiding the white-haired boy's eyes. He already saw how I reacted to simply being on the airship; he didn't need to know what life at home was like for me. No one needed to know.

Now that I was completely focused, I took a few seconds to observe our surroundings—after all, it took hours just to get here, to this specific spot, so it had to be pretty special. Only... there wasn't anything exceptionally out of the ordinary here.

We had landed in an open field with... nothing much, to be honest. Just some grass and some trees.

"What do you think of this place?" Killua walked up beside me, hands in his pockets like usual.

'_It's... okay, I guess. Kind of empty. Nothing spectacular.'_

He arched an eyebrow. "Really? I think it's interesting." When I gave him a questioning look, he pointed up ahead, slightly to the left. "See how there are huge rocks all piled up neatly and open up to a path there? I think it's the entrance to something—something _big_."

He was right, of course. How could I not have noticed that? _'And I think you need to stop being a show-off.'_ I frowned.

His mouth twitched upwards. "Impressed, Yori?"

'_Yes, impressed at the fact that you wasted time thinking so deeply about rocks. Maybe if you share your theories about _grass_ next time, I might even be mind-blown.'_

"Then you'd better prepare to be amazed."

At that moment, a puff of smoke blew across us, directing my attention to the cause of it. There, lying under a tree, was a man, presumably in his thirties, with dark hair and shades over his eyes. He had a cigarette balanced in his mouth and when he exhaled, another cloud of grey smoke was carried over in our direction. Between the wool sweater that he wore and the way his emerald green eyes would peek out from under his shades, there was something familiar about him. Something I recognized about him.

When he saw the group of examinees, he yawned and got to his feet lazily, as if the movement itself was troublesome. Stretching, he greeted us. "So you guys are finally here." Rubbing the sleep away from his eyes, he cleared his voice and regarded us with indifference. "Let's see... I'm your examiner for the—what was it again?—oh yes, the third phase of the Hunter Exam." Shifting his weight onto one leg, he gave us a tired wave.

For someone who was supposed to be testing us and evaluating our progress, this man seemed awfully laidback and uncaring, even. But after meeting the hot-headed Gemmei and creepy Hebi, his personality was refreshing, to a certain degree.

"Hiyori," my brother whispered to me, not taking his eyes off of the man, "do you think that he's...?"

I nodded once, stiffly. _'Yeah, I think so.'_

I was pretty sure of it now. There was only one person who spoke like that. There was only one person who moved like that.

Naozane Kujo.

The Michiyo company's main rival.

Beside me, I heard Hiroki suck in a deep breath. Even though neither of us have actually met him in person before, I was almost certain that this man was Naozane because of the way father ranted when our business was in a recession and the Kujo business was at its peak. His sluggish movements and nonchalant attitude matched father's description perfectly.

I just hoped that he wouldn't recognize us and fail us on the spot.

"Right, now I'll explain the rules for this phase," Naozane said, scratching the back of his head, seemingly unprepared and somewhat nervous. "First off, the blinds of the airship should've come down before you landed, correct? None of you guys saw anything outside?"

Yes, of course. I didn't need to be reminded again that I had been stripped of the right to see the outside world. With those metal blinds, there was no way I could see anything.

"Alright, good." The black-haired examiner and owner of the Kujo company exhaled a puff of smoke from his cigarette. "I had asked Beans to make sure that the blinds came down because it would've been all too easy to cheat if you could see this place from up high."

"What do you mean?" One of the participants asked, voicing everyone's questions.

Naozane ran a hand through his hair and sighed. He led us over to the entrance Killua had pointed out earlier. "This entire place consists of stone and rock. Originally, it had just been a mountain of rock, but after a few adjustments, it all came together to form—" he stepped back and let us peek into the entrance "—a maze."

Exactly one minute and twenty-four seconds passed until the first reaction was heard. To my left, Leorio sucked in a deep breath. "Holy shit."

"Impressive," Kurapika commented after him.

Killua whistled.

"Woahhh," Gon exclaimed, eyes shining. "It's huge!"

And it definitely _was_ huge. Standing at a little over two meters tall, it was taller than any human could be, though it seemed to reach all the way to the sky. In its own special way, it was grander than any chandelier and more awe-striking than any painting.

What was even more impressiv e was that the entire maze was made solely of rock. And it wasn't even hard, sturdy rock; if anything, it looked unstable, as if when pressure was applied, it would crumble and fall over. It was a mystery how it stood without swaying and was able to support so much weight.

Naozane coughed. "So yeah, it's a maze. And like all mazes, your goal is to get to the centre." He paused to think and inhaled a large breath of smoke, scanning the group of examinees. "Ah, now the next part gets a little complicated. You will be working in groups of two and since there are eighteen of you, the numbers will work out perfectly.

"Each team will be competing against another team, which would make this something like a two versus two battle. One of the two teams will be given a present," he held up a small card enveloped in wrapping paper—literally a present, "and you will have to bring this with you to the centre of the maze or else you won't pass. That being said, both teams are allowed to steal the present at any time once the phase starts, however you are _not_ allowed to steal presents from other groups."

Our examiner stuck the cigarette in his mouth and sighed, seemingly worn out by all the talking. He ran a hand through his hair and continued, "The time limit is five hours. If neither team has reached the centre with the present after that time, both teams will be disqualified. Oh, and killing other participants is forbidden. Any questions so far?"

A hand shot up. "Are we allowed to unwrap the presents?"

"Definitely not." Naozane's tone turned serious for a split second. "I will be monitoring you at all times, so don't even try to cheat." When he saw that there were no more questions, he snapped his fingers. " Oh right! I forgot to mention that this is also the last phase in the Hunter Exam. So those of you who pass this test...

"... will officially become hunters."

* * *

Killua groaned loudly. "Why am I stuck with _you_ of all people?"

It was true. The white-haired boy and I were stuck together as partners for this phase since everyone we knew were already paired up: Gon was with Hiroki and Kurapika was with Leorio. Which left me to be with the annoying one.

In all honesty, I didn't mind being with Killua at all. He was fun to be around and there was no doubt that he was strong, even without the knowledge of _Nen_. Not that I would ever admit it to him, of course, because that would just cause his ego in inflate tenfold.

'_It should be an honour to work with me. Plus, it's either me or that old man over there who's also trying to look for a partner.'_

He sighed dramatically. "See what I have to put up with every day?"

I acted offended. _'What about what _I_ have to deal with? Maybe you _should_ team up with that old man after all; he's old and you have white hair. You're perfect for each other.'_

"My hair is—"

"Are you two a group?" The examiner walked up to us and interjected. I nodded, biting my lip to keep myself from laughing over the fact that Naozane had interrupted us right when Killua was about to defend his hair colour—for some reason, he kept on insisting that it was _silver_. "Alright, I'm going to have you to go against these guys."

He gestured towards the two boys approaching us from behind him, both of them looking a few years older than us. The first thing I noticed about them was probably the completely different auras they gave off.

The boy on the right wore dark clothing—black jeans, black belt, black sweater—to match his equally dark hair and eyes. In his hand was a sword, loosely gripped between his fingers. I would've easily passed him as an emo, possibly depressed kid, if he didn't have a huge grin plastered on his face. It was actually kind of scary how different his personality was compared to how he dressed.

The same could be said about his partner. The other boy had a bright, purple sweater and light brown hair that was almost the same shade as mine. Unlike the dark-haired boy, who had spiky hair, this guy's hair was shaggy and fell over the top parts of his eyes. Add a frown and he had a completely indifferent expression on his face that almost seemed permanent.

Okay, these two were kind of creepy.

The black-haired boy stuck out his hand enthusiastically. "Nice to meet you! My name is Kenjiro."

A pause. Kenjiro elbowed his partner.

"I'm Yuichi," the brown-haired boy mumbled, greeted us unwillingly, though he was mostly just glaring at Kenjiro. It was obvious that he was unsocial. I couldn't help but smile; I understood him completely. Interacting with others could be nerve-racking.

Beside me, Killua extended his hand and shook Kenjiro's uninterestedly. "I'm Killua. And that's Yori."

'_Hiyori,'_ I corrected, frowning. _'And my partner here isn't Killua; he's a jerk.'_

Kenjiro laughed and I even saw Yuichi crack a smile. Killua scowled.

"So what's with the notebook?" Kenjiro questioned. "Isn't it just easier to talk? Why do you write out your words instead?"

I blinked. _'Ah… it's because I'm mute.'_

The dark-haired boy's eyes went wide. "Oh man, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to sound rude or invade your privacy or anything like that, I swear! I was just curious and—"

He stopped when Yuichi elbowed him in the ribs, effectively shutting him up from his word vomit earlier. "Just apologize properly; you blabbing on and on isn't helping at all." Yuichi's voice was stern and deeper, a nice contrast to his partner's high pitched voice.

Without meaning to, I found a smile spread itself over my face as I realized what a great relationship these two had. It was the kind of relationship I wanted to be able to build with others. _'It's fine,'_ I reassured them. After all, his reaction had been nothing like Killua's snickering the first time I told him. _'People are always surprised when they find out that I'm mute. I don't mind; you didn't offend me at all.'_

Kenjiro let out a sigh of relief. "Alright, thanks," he said, even though, really, _I_ should be the one thanking _him_. "If you don't mind me asking, does being mute mean that you don't have vocal cords or something? I mean, why is it that you can't talk?"

I flipped the page of my notebook and was about explain that I was selectively mute—mute by choice—and that I didn't really know how it worked either but I was interrupted by Killua snatching the notebook away. "Quit talking to the enemy, Yori. Let's go." And he dragged me away while I could only send Kenjiro and Yuichi an apologetic look.

When we were fair enough so that the others couldn't hear us, I glared at the white-haired boy. _'What was that for?'_ He couldn't just pull me away like that when I was in the middle of a conversation—when I was finally trying to make friends!

"You mean you were just going to spill all your secrets out like that?" He yelled back at me, equally mad. "They're our _opponents_. Or did you forget that while you were flirting with the samurai-wannabe?"

My mouth fell open. _'I—I wasn't flirting with him! I was just… isn't that how a normal conversation goes?'_

Killua huffed. "Whatever. As long as you don't give away anything."

'_What secrets? He only asked me about being mute and how it works. It's not like I was going to tell him anything about my fighting style.'_

The anger returned in Killua's voice. "Yeah, he asked about being mute. Were you just going to _tell_ him?"

'_Well… yeah. It's not like I have anything to hide.'_ I didn't understand; why was he getting so worked up over this?

"You've known me longer than them and you never told _me_ any of that." All of a sudden, he couldn't meet my eyes.

I blinked, staring at him. It was a while before I could reply and I watched his hands retreat to their usual position in their pockets. _'But… you never asked.'_

"I-I was being considerate!" He looked away. "I thought maybe it was a sensitive topic…"

I was completely taken aback. Grinning, I swung my arm around the white-haired boy and hugged him. _'I'll tell you everything eventually, I promise. Just… not now. But thank you.'_

It might've been my imagination but I could've sworn that the tips of Killua's ears turned red. "Sure… no problem… but what were you going to tell Samurai Wannabe, then?"

The nickname brought an amused smile to my lips. _'Oh, I was just going to say that I didn't know how mute people's vocal cords worked.'_ He gave me a questioning look. _'I'm selectively mute.'_ When he still didn't understand, I sighed. _'I chose to be mute, you idiot.' _

"So you can still talk?"

'_Yeah.'_

"Were you just looking for attention, then?"

I glared at him. _'Of course not!' _I took a swing at him, but he dodged out of the way with ease. I had my reasons for keeping my silence and I was grateful when Killua didn't pry into the topic. The tension around us disappeared and we made our way back to the group where Naozane was going to start the test. It was sort of hard to believe that Killua would get mad over something so trivial, but I supposed that it meant he cared, at least.

* * *

It had begun.

In one hand, I held onto the present Naozane gave us. In the other hand, my fingers were intertwined with Killua's as we sprinted into the maze on the examiner's signal. As part of the first group, we got a two minute head start to try and get as far away as possible from our opponents, Kenjiro and Yuichi.

The maze had multiple entrances scattered all around its exterior and each set of four participants started at a different opening to avoid collision with other groups. Our plan at the moment was simple: run blindly into the maze to shake Kenjiro and Yuichi off our tail, then figure out everything later. The important thing was maintaining our hold on the item we needed to take to the centre of the maze with us.

Killua's hand was warm. I couldn't even remember when we first started holding hands or whether the white-haired boy even though of this as _holding hands_ because he was more or less dragging me along with him as he ran. Still, despite our previous argument, the pursuers on our tail, and the general dangers of the Hunter Exam, this was actually fun_. Exhilarating. _

Eventually, after taking many turns throughout the maze, we slowed down to a walking speed and took in our surroundings. If the maze looked awe-inspiring from the outside, then it was simply majestic on the inside. Even though the rocks seemed somewhat fragile, they still gave an odd sense of security.

"You think this is far enough for now?" Killua asked. He held my gaze for a second. "You're not tired, Yori? We ran pretty far."

Similarly, I glanced back at him. There wasn't a single bead of sweat on his forehead and his breathing was normal. The reason I could run like this was because of the _Nen_ training I'd gone through but as far as I could tell, Killua wasn't even aware that _Nen_ existed. _'Same for you.'_ I raised an eyebrow at him, curious to where he got his stamina from. _'You don't seem tired either.'_

I had hoped to get some answers out of him—I knew that he was strong and I wanted to know what he had to go through to obtain his strength—but before Killua was able to reply, a bush jumped out at us.

We were being attacked. By a _bush_.

What the heck?

The plant sped up as it crawled closer, seemingly aiming for me, and suddenly, Naozane's present was in enemy hands. The bush shook and stood up, revealing itself to be Yuichi. I could only gape in surprised at how good his camouflage had been and it was only when Kenjiro ran up to him seemingly coming from nowhere, the two of them exchanging high fives before sprinting away, that I snapped out of it.

I immediately chased after them, but they had already gotten too much of a head start. I cursed myself for hesitating even a little bit. By the time I turned the corner, our opponents were nowhere in sight.

Killua joined up with me a few minutes later. He also had a baffled look on his face; the fact that neither of us noticed their presence was definitely not a good sign.

"Damn it," he muttered. Our guards were up now but it was already too late.

_Defeated._ Another _D_ word.

* * *

**A/N:** First off, thank you _so much_ for the feedback last chapter; I really wasn't expecting anyone to still be following this story. I'm super glad you guys are still reading this—which is why I wrote this chapter so quickly (well, quickly for my speed, at least).

Personally, I don't really like this chapter? I felt like it was just a bunch of explanations and cheesy dialogue; I hope you didn't find it too boring. I dunno, tell me what you thought of it? I'm excited for the next one, though, because the Hunter Exam is going to be wrapped up, followed by transitions into the next arc, and you'll get to learn about Hiyori's and Hiroki's _Nen_ in the upcoming chapters.

**NEXT CHAPTER:** In which Killua shows off, Hiyori slips up, and Hiroki brags. Unfortunately, school is starting soon so I don't know when I'll be able to update.

I read and reply to each and every review, so leave a comment!

~Madin456.


	8. Push Your Way Through

**A/N:** Guess who updated after half a year. If there's anyone still reading this, bless you. I'm fully aware of all the flaws this story has, but hopefully it'll still be an enjoyable chapter.

You can thank Rain Moto for this chapter being uploaded because they managed to find this story after so long and that's basically how I got my inspiration back.

I think I forgot to mention that from chapter 6 onwards, this story has not been beta'd. I lost contact with Reeya, though that's also partially my fault. So there's that.

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Hunter X Hunter.**_

Chapter 8: Push Your Way Through

Two hours passed and we've just been walking in circles.

Everything about this situation felt frustrating. We had barely even started and the card had already been stolen from us. Our advantage was lost in a matter of minutes and the only thing we could really do now was to hope to run into Yuichi and Kenjiro again somewhere along the way. It was unbelievable how badly this was going.

Beside me, Killua groaned and let out a low growl. "I can't believe we lost to a _bush_. Do you know how pathetic that sounds? _A bush._" He punched the wall to his right in anger and almost fell over. "What—?"

I looked up at the maze before me with wide eyes. The stones that once stood tall had been shifted forward, just a fragment of an inch, but it was visibly staggered now. Upon Killua's touch earlier, a loud rumbling noise echoed throughout the maze, the sound of rocks scrapping against each other vibrated in my ears.

I exchanged looks with my partner, whose facial expression mirrored mine. "Coincidence?" He asked and I shrugged, gesturing at him to try it again.

This time, fully intentional, he placed his hands against the stones, applying pressure as he shifted his weight forward. I could only stare in bewilderment as the soft rumbling invaded my eardrums again and I had never been happier to welcome it.

"Are you kidding me," Killua mumbled, leaning back to admire the newly created space in front of us.

_'This is ridiculous,'_ I replied in agreement.

And then the two of us laughed because all along, it had been that _easy_.

* * *

"If All Else Fails, Use Brute Force" was basically what we've learned from this phase of the exam. Turns out the saying if _there's no path, then create your own_ really did apply to real life because the trick to this maze was to push around the rocks until we made our own path to the center.

"I'm a genius," Killua beamed with pride. "If I hadn't punched the wall, we never would have figured it out. This one is all on me."

I gave him a look. _'Yes, yes; your anger issues came in handy for once. Now can you help me set up this place so we'll be ready for Yuichi and Kenjiro when they come?' _

He sent me one of his infamously annoying smirks but went to work nonetheless. I watched him out of the corner of my eyes as his muscles flexed underneath his shirt with every push and how swiftly he moved the rocks without any effort. The boy was a lot stronger than he looked, I already knew that, but I wondered if there was a limit to his strength. He hadn't seemed affected by anything so far and I was curious as to just how much those teal-blue eyes have seen in the past twelve years.

I sighed. Killua and I were quite similar and that wasn't good because neither of us opened up to others easily. Still, I wanted to get to know him better, figure out what he's been through and what his upbringing was like and how this boy with snow white hair and a constant teasing smirk on his faced managed to capture my attention so much.

And then I remembered that my time out in this world was limited—that my time with _him_ was limited—so I pushed all those thoughts away and decided to focus on the task at hand.

Applying a thin layer of _Nen_ to my palms, I manipulated the rocks around me much more efficiently than before. It took almost no effort at all to rearrange the maze now and in a few minutes, we had executed our plan.

This place had become our terrain. Within the large maze, we created our own mini maze; it was a wide open space that connected to a small series of turns in a narrower path. It was simple, yes, and you could easily find your way out, but that wasn't the intended purpose of what we had created.

We found Kenjiro and Yuichi at one point, looking just as lost as we had been before we figured out the trick to solving the maze, and we immediately ran toward them. They may have gotten the present but we still had our own advantage.

"It's them!" Kenjiro was the first to spot us. He quickly turned around, dragging his partner along with him.

And we chased them directly into our trap.

The two of them stopped when they realized that they had been cornered at a dead end. Turning around to face us, their faces showed expressions of determination.

"Alright," Killua started, falling in step beside me. The four of us stood in front of each other, a few metres apart, both teams equally as serious. "You guys aren't going to just hand over the cards, am I right?"

Their silence was our answer.

The white-haired boy nodded. "That's what I thought. So… let's have a one-on-one battle." Killua grinned. "Not that you guys have much of a choice, anyway; there's nowhere left to run." I heard Kenjiro curse as my partner nodded at him. "Samurai-wannabe, you're with me."

That was my cue. I gestured at Yuichi to follow me and the two of us left the arena into the narrow path we created earlier.

This was where it _really_ starts.

* * *

I didn't forget that Yuichi was a master at camouflage—not after that stunt with the bush he pulled earlier. So when I walked into the path and turned around to find that he had disappeared, I reminded myself to stay calm. Just because he wasn't visible, didn't mean he wasn't still there.

The only problem was that he could see me clearly while I had no clue where he was hiding.

But I was on high alert. I moved cautiously through the maze as I scanned my surroundings for any sign of movement. There was a rustle to my left and I spun around immediately, just barely dodging a fist to my face. Yuichi frowned when his attack failed and stumbled backwards when I lunged at him, returning a punch of my own.

My hand smacked his leg and I recoiled in pain as my hand throbbed after hitting something hard. I blinked. I was pretty sure that flesh wasn't supposed to feel like this. And then—_ah, I see. So that's what it is._

I fled after that, turning around a corner so Yuichi wouldn't be able to see me. The hard spot I had made contact with was the card in his pocket; I quickly ripped out a piece of paper from my notebook, folded it into a paper airplane, and threw it over the walls of the maze. Yuichi was the one who had the present we needed.

* * *

Killua recognized the signal immediately. The paper airplane sailed through the sky above him and he shot it down with a rock and a flick of his wrist before his opponent could notice what was going on.

It was time to end this.

The white-haired boy circled around Kenjiro, eyes never leaving the samurai. His footsteps became lighter, quieter, silent. He allowed himself to dissolve into his surroundings, become part of the air that circulated throughout the maze. His opponent twirled around in all directions, panicked and confused, sword swinging widely everywhere.

Killua smirked. Yuichi wasn't the only one who could make himself disappear.

But his target wasn't the samurai. While Kenjiro was occupied with trying to figure out where his opponent went, Killua made his way to where Hiyori had led their other challenger. It took some time, but he managed to locate Yuichi crouched behind a tree, diligently trailing his partner. The white-haired boy grinned and he made his way closer to his target, until he was standing right behind Yuichi. And with a quick gesture of a highly controlled hand, he struck.

His fingers fumbled around gently inside the other boy's pockets and tightened his grip on the card that he was looking for. He quickly retreated after that; Yuichi didn't even notice the fact that he had been robbed.

The purpose of splitting up Kenjiro and Yuichi had never been to fight them in the first place. That simply would have been a waste of time. They just needed to figure out which one of them was holding on to the card and grab that before either of them realized it was missing.

Killua met up with Hiyori and the two of them proceeded to make their way to the center of the maze.

* * *

"So you not only used _Nen_ once during the exam, but _twice_," Hiroki greeted me when we got to the center of the maze. He and Gon were sitting by the examiner, along with Leorio and Kurapika; it seemed like Killua and I were the last ones. "Does that mean I get double the reward?"

I groaned and threw him a piece of candy I found in my pocket. _'Congratulations, bro. You've become even more annoying.'  
_

The examiner stood up. "That's all the time for the third phase of the Hunter Exam. Those of you here have passed."

Cheers erupted around us and I exchanged high fives with the others, glad that we all made it. Looking around, I noticed that from over four hundred participants, only ten of us managed to stay until the end.  
"Alright, you guys still have the presents I gave you at the beginning, correct?" Naozane continued. "I want you to rip open the wrapping paper."

Slightly confused and more than a little curious, I leaned in to watch Killua tear off the wrapping. My heart skipped a beat when I saw what it revealed.

"There should be two cards identical to mine inside—one for you and one for you partner." The examiner held up a card of his own. "These are your official Hunter Licenses."

After that, he went on to explaining the value of the license and what they could be used for, but all I could focus on was the fact that I was _feeling_ my very own Hunter identification in my hands right now. I've worked hard for this little piece of plastic.

It was a surreal moment.

Naozane passed around a pen and we each got to sign our names on the license. As the black ink made its mark on the card, a rush of happiness flooded through me. I glanced over at Killua, who just seemed indifferent to it all, and I didn't understand how he wasn't excited about this.

Nonetheless, _we were Hunters._

* * *

Hunter Exam Phase Three—Start: 20 Examinees  
Hunter Exam Phase Three—Finish: 10 Examinees

* * *

**A/N:** Finally the Hunter Exam arc is over! That took too long haha. I hope the phases I came up with were interesting enough. **Please keep reading until the end of the author's note.**

The more important things:

\- from now on, the plot won't be following canon at all

\- there should be two more arcs, unless something unexpected happens

\- romance should be picking up

\- please tell me if there's anything you'd like to see in terms of KilluYori relationship or stuff relating to Hiroki or just anything in general! I'll find a way to incorporate it, if it's within reason (and you'll get credit, of course)

\- I've actually been debating about discontinuing this story for a long time because this is definitely not my best writing, but I had everything planned out when I started and that just seems like a waste. –sigh- I don't know, man

The other things:

\- I think my writing style has changed quite a bit but I tried my best to make this consistent to previous chapters

\- I know I have commitment issues with multi-chap stories but I'm always uploading one-shots (like, on a regular basis so you won't have to worry about waiting months) so I'd be really grateful if you checked those out (psst, they're much better written too)

\- I'm also working on a collab fic with EmberSkies called _Runaways_ and there's a link to it on my profile. I will love you forever if you read that

**NEXT CHAPTER:** On their way to Whale Island.

And leave a review here if you'd like! My PM is always open if you have questions.

~Madin456.


	9. Pop Goes the Bubble

**A/N:** I'm honestly surprised at the amount of feedback I got for the last chapter. You all deserve so much better. XD

_Also_, the HxH manga is back. Definitely exciting.

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Hunter X Hunter**_**.**

Chapter 9: Pop Goes the Bubble

Watching a grown man cry was something else.

(Alright, so Leorio claimed to be nineteen, still a teenager, but taking into account his physical appearance and his lack of stamina, it shouldn't be a surprise that I questioned the accuracy of that statement.)

The tears rolling down his cheeks just kept flowing and no matter how many times he wiped them away, fresh ones formed in his eyes time after time. As sad as the sight was, I was also sure that half the reason he was crying was due to the joy of finally being one step closer in achieving his dream of attending medical school and becoming a doctor.

To his side, Kurapika looked just as determined, though there were less tears in his regard. He was planning on searching for the group of thieves, the Phantom Troupe, that had massacred his clan many years ago. I wished him good luck, and the soft smile he returned reassured me that he wouldn't act irrationally and let himself get killed.

Of course, before leaving, Leorio insisted that each of us should get a cellphone so we could still keep in touch in the future. Agreement settled amongst the group now that money wasn't an issue with our Hunter licenses, and we all bought a phone model that he recommended. Looking at the small device in my hands, I didn't have the heart to tell him that it was probably going to end up confiscated when I returned home, but for now, the five numbers I have saved in my contacts made me happy enough.

We parted ways with Leorio and Kurapika after that. As for the rest of us, we were still undecided.

"I think I'm going to go back to Whale Island to let Mito-san know that I've become a Hunter now." Gon grinned. "Plus, I miss my home."

"Mind if I join you?" Killua asked the chocolate-haired boy. "I've got no plans for now and I'm kind of interested in this Whale Island you keep going on about."

"Sure! But you're not going to visit your family?"

Killua adverted his eyes and shrugged. "Nah, it's fine."

"Okay, then what about you guys?" Gon turned to us. "What do you plan on doing, Hiroki? Hiyori?"

I exchanged looks with my brother. We both knew that father wanted us back immediately after the Exam ended. Neither of us wanted to upset him and the most logical thing to do would be to catch the first flight back home.

Gon noticed our hesitation and must have misunderstood because he quickly added, "You can come back with me too, if you'd like," he suggested. "I'm sure Mito-san wouldn't mind, and we have a few spare rooms."

It was nice of him to offer that, really, but I had learned the consequences of defying father's orders the hard way. As great as a vacation to the island Gon grew up in sounded, it was probably better not to risk the wrath of father's anger.

"Why not?" Hiroki warmed up to the idea. "I'd love to visit your home, Gon. What do you say, Hiyori?"

Wait, _what?_ I gaped at my brother. The smile on his face told me that he was well aware that it would be going against father's wishes, but he wanted to do it regardless. His eyes twinkled with mischievousness while my brain was screaming, _no, no way._

Hiroki must be in his rebellious phase.

He sighed. "Look, he doesn't have to know," my brother comforted me, referring to our father. "He _won't_ know. It'll be fine. Let's have some fun."

Gon smiled at me encouragingly and beside him, Killua waited, hands in his pockets, a smirk on his face that said he already knew what my decision was going to be. _Damn it all_, I seriously hoped Hiroki was right about what he said because it looked like things were already settled. I guess we were going to Whale Island.

_Let's have some fun._

* * *

Don't get too excited though; before we could get to the nearest town with a docking centre, we had to navigate ourselves through the thick forest that surrounded Naozane's maze. The four of us moved at a fairly slow pace, simply enjoying the nature and each other's company—at least, that's what _would_ have happened if we didn't all end up as victims to Killua's treacherous foot tripping us every few minutes, causing us to get multiply scratches from loose branches. Then he laughed at the leaves that got caught in our hair—_that brat_.

(It was undeniably fun, though. The most fun I've had in a long time.)

When we finally arrived at the dock, it was already close to sunset. The sky turned noticeably darker and, just our luck, the last passenger ship had left half an hour ago.

"Well, this is just great," Killua muttered, kicking at the ground, no longer laughing. It took all of my willpower to bite back a remark about how maybe we could've made it on time if he hadn't been so focused on making us fall face-first throughout the walk here.

Gon looked like a dejected puppy. He walked over to the worker, still with a spark of hope in his eyes. "Was that really the last ship?"

The employee was already packing up his things and getting ready to head home for the night. "Sorry kiddo, that was the last one. You'll have to wait until tomorrow morning." A pause. "That is, unless you guys happen to be Hunters. There's a special ship that comes around one last time especially for Hunters that can get you to your destination faster than any normal boat." Then, he laughed, as if the possibility of us being Hunters could never happen.

We glanced at each other. "We _are_ Hunters!" Gon exclaimed with excitement. Maybe we weren't so out of luck after all.

"Oh yeah?" The man looked amused, playing along with the boy's claim. "Do you have any proof?"

Gon took out the license he just received a few hours and handed it over to the employee, who eyes us incredulously. "You're serious? Well, you're going to need more than a badge to make me believe that. The Hunter Exam is an ongoing process," he said, looking each of us in the eye. "Show me your _Nen_."

* * *

There was that word again: _Nen._

Killua remembered that Hiroki had mentioned it to Yori at the end of the Exam—something about winning a bet. He had said that he _felt_ her use _Nen_, but Killua had been with the girl throughout the entire third phase and he hadn't noticed anything exceptional. And now, they needed this _Nen_ thing to get on the boat.

The white-haired boy was _curious_.

What made _Nen_ so important? Why was it only exclusive to Hunters? How come the twins knew about it before completing the Exam, then?

Killua was glad to see that it wasn't just him who was out of the loop; Gon seemed just as confused as he did. He also noticed the silent exchange between Yori and her brother—a conversation without words, no doubt about whether they should reveal their _Nen_ or not.

"Alright," Hiroki spoke up after a few minutes of debate. "We'll show you. _Ten_ should be enough, right?"

The worker man nodded, still skeptical. But the siblings had already closed their eyes, seemingly concentrating hard on… something. Killua wasn't quite sure _what_ it was.

And then, he felt it: a light buzz, a tingling sensation spreading in and all around his body. It made the atmosphere heavier, thicker, but it wasn't an unsettling feeling by far; it was too faint to be threatening or trigger any of Killua's instincts, which was probably why he didn't notice it earlier. For some reason, it reminded the ex-assassin of his brother, Illumi, the one person he didn't want to think about right now. But this definitely wasn't like the tense, dark, murderous aura his older brother gave out. This felt calming. Warm, even.

There were two different forces in the room, one from Hiroki and another from Yori, and they almost seemed to clash. The boy's aura was loud, wilder, confident. It was fierce and unwavering, protective but unrestrained at the same time. On the other hand, the girl's aura was more controlled and defined, tendrils of soft ocean waves reaching out and flowing freely around her body.

Although Killua couldn't quite describe it, they were two very distinct feelings.

And then—it was gone. The absence of warmth from earlier almost made the white-haired boy shiver. It had been turned off like a switch, and any other time, Killua would have passed it off as merely nothing, but this time, he knew that Hiroki and Yori had _produced_ the unique, five second experience. They had done it on command, and it seemed unbelievably _strong_.

_This was Nen_.

"Alright, you pass," the employee nodded in acknowledgment, still somewhat mystified. "What about those two? Do they know _Nen_ too?"

It took Killua a moment to snap out of his trance and realize that the question was directed at him.

"No," Hiroki replied. "Just us."

The man mused over this. "Two out of four, huh? Well, I guess I'll let you go. That was some pretty impressive _Ten_, I admit. Follow me, the boat is this way."

They walked further along the bank of the ocean until they saw a red and white ship come into view. The boat was small in size, but then again, it was exclusive to Hunters, so it didn't need to carry that many people, anyway. It was made out of wood, but definitely still sturdy and would no doubt bring them to their destination.

Once they settled down in the boat, Killua couldn't hold it in anymore. He looked back and forth between the siblings. "What did you guys _do _earlier?"

* * *

Sometimes, I still couldn't believe that Killua didn't know about the existence of _Nen_. It was hard to imagine how he got so strong otherwise. But I had promised him an explanation when he asked about it during the Hunter Exam, so it wouldn't be fair to put it off any longer.

As Hiroki started talking about the four main components to _Nen_—_Ten, Ren, Hatsu, Zetsu—_I thought back to when we had our first lesson with our Master. Unlike us, Killua and Gon seemed to grasp the whole concept fairly easily, nodding along and listening attentively to my brother's words. I remembered being confused on even just the idea of aura itself, much less understanding the different categories of abilities you could develop. I was almost jealous at how quickly the boys absorbed this information.

By the time Hiroki had gone through all the explanations, it was just past midnight. We had separated and gone back to our respective rooms on the ship to sleep, but I found myself back on the deck, consumed by my doubts on whether going to Whale Island was really the right choice. The blue ocean water glistening under the moonlight was something I would have missed out on if I had declined Gon's offer go visit his home, but even though it didn't seem like it sometimes, I had a home too.

"Can't sleep, Yori?"

I spun around at the sound of a voice, so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn't even noticed Killua approaching. He walked over to my side and leaned against the edge of the boat, taking a bite of the chocolate bar in his hand.

'_And what about you?'_ I replied. _'Eating junk food in the middle of the night can't be healthy.'_

He shrugged, swallowing, and I was honestly curious as to where his endless supply of chocolates came from. The kid seemed to devour those things in balk.

"It's a reward," he said, and I could just hear the smirk in his tone. Along with the potential bullshit that was about to come out his mouth.

'_For what?'_

"Hmm, nothing really. For passing the Hunter Exam, I guess. For finally getting the truth about _Nen_ out of you guys." He turned to look at me. "I guess this means you're actually really strong, huh Yori?"

I waved my hand dismissively. _'Not nearly as strong as you, Killua. You're so skilled and yet you didn't even know about _Nen _before today.'_

The white-haired boy shrugged again and finished the last of his chocolate. "Well, I was forced to go through a lot of training when I was younger. Now, it seems I have to train all over again for _Nen_." He sighed. "It just never ends, does it?"

I blinked. Right. Of course Killua would want to practice the new technique he learned. Maybe I would've felt the same way if I hadn't been forced into it at the age of ten.

'_It's a good feeling, you know,'_ I said, and when he raised an eyebrow in question, I continued, _'It feels good to be better than you at something.'_

He grinned. "Yeah? Enjoy it while you can because once I get used to this whole _Nen_ thing, you won't be able to say that anymore."

'_Sure, sure; I'll believe it once you can actually perform _Ten_.'_

The twinkle in his eyes under the moonlight told me that he accepted the challenge.

* * *

When we finally arrived at Whale Island, it was already the afternoon of the next day. The land was green, all covered in grass, and it was actually in the shape of a whale; I think I was more surprised at the lack of creativity in the name rather than the irregular contour of land. Sometime last night, it had rained and now large droplets of water were hammering down heavily all around us.

"We should probably head to your house quickly, Gon, before we get drenched," Hiroki said, holding up a hand to cover his head from the rain.

Gon lead us through a small market on the docks of Whale Island before we entered a thick forest. Thankfully, Killua refrained from tripping us this time, because otherwise, we would've all gotten muddy from falling on the wet soil. We were warned that bears commonly roamed these parts of the forest, and although I'm all about experiencing new things and they're supposed to be friendly, I wasn't too thrilled about the possibility of becoming an animal's next meal.

But it turned out that we had a worse problem. At that moment, I felt a spark. A flash of awareness. Another… presence.

And it definitely wasn't a bear; this felt very human.

The forest was vast, with lots of trees spreading over a large area of land. It shouldn't have been surprising that there were other people here, even despite the heavy rain that was falling all around us. But that one flicker of _Nen_ felt dangerous and extremely controlled, like the person had released their _Zetsu_ on purpose so that we would be exposed to their aura just long enough for us to notice something was wrong.

So yeah, we were definitely being tailed—and our follower _wanted _us to know it.

We continued walking for a while and even though I knew it wouldn't happen, I hoped that the person would leave if they went on as usual. No such luck. Every now and then, they would let out a strong burst of aura—only for a split second, but it was enough to make me shiver. After a few minutes, I think Killua was growing weary as well and it didn't surprise me that he was catching on. It was like I could feel his confusion of not being able to place a finger on what exactly was off, since he had only just learned about _Nen_.

I was steadily becoming more and more paranoid as we navigated deeper into the forest. With every rustle of a bush and every snap of a twig, my eyes would dark around panicked, guard up, preparing for an attack.

The attack never came, which just made me feel even more uneasy.

"We should probably find somewhere to wait out the rain," Hiroki gestured to the small cabin that had come into view. He noticed the other presence too, no doubt. Whoever it was, they seemed to be a lot stronger than us, so it made sense to get out of the open, where we could be targeted from all different directions. Though I wasn't really sure how much locking ourselves in a cabin would help, but we didn't exactly have any other options at the moment.

We made our way over and invited ourselves into the wooden house. It was a small place with only two rooms, all on the first floor, and surprisingly, it was fairly well maintained. There was warm food on the kitchen table and a bed that was a complete mess, with blankets tossed everywhere. Most likely, there had been someone living here just moments ago.

I plopped down on the couch beside Killua as Gon and Hiroki went to close the windows. Gon paused in pulling down the shutters and squinted out into the distance.

"What's wrong?" My brother asked.

The spikey-haired boy kept his gaze in front of him, frowning. "I thought I saw—"

He never got to finish his sentence because just then, a single bubble floated inside the cabin and Gon took a cautious step back. He pointed at it. "See! I knew I saw something. I wonder where this came from." His finger inched closer toward the bubble until—

_Pop._

The instant his nail made contact with the bubble, the boy dropped to the floor, immobilized. His eyes were wide as he lay on the ground, having seemingly lost control of his limbs, mind working on overdrive while his body struggled to keep up. He was blinking rapidly but remained static in his deranged position.

The rest of us jumped up immediately and rushed over to him. _"Gon!"_

* * *

**A/N:** It's been a while since I've actually been satisfied with a chapter for this story. This chapter was okay, I think. I think. XD

About POV changes: any perspectives other than Hiyori's will be in third person. That's… basically it. Oddly enough, I feel that it's more natural to write for Killua than Hiyori, which is… weird, I guess, since he's not the main character here. But I write about him more in other stories so maybe it's not that weird.

There are times when I want to swear in the story, but then I have to remind myself that they're only twelve and still mostly innocent (I say mostly because we all know Killua _isn't_) and _fuck_.

**NEXT CHAPTER:** More bubbles. Lots of bubbles. So many bubbles. I'm actually not too sure what's going to happen haha. I'm so unorganized. Any ideas on who their stalker is, though? I'd love to hear your guesses!

~Madin456.


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